Hairstyle Wedding: Art Spotlight: Rachel Uchizono

Meet Artist: Rachel Uchizono

Rachel Uchizono lives in Laguna Beach, CA. She paints local canyon and ocean scenes.

Painting on location or Plein Air, small studies are brought back to the studio to use as inspiration for larger paintings.

Peacocks are also a favorite subject and flowers from her garden.

"Big Bend"

Rachel has an adventurous palette and paints with an impressionistic distinctive style.

“The technique of painting sounds simple, yet getting the values right and putting only the necessary information from a complex scene can be a challenge.”

"Borrego Azalea"

Her paintings are soulful and express the joy and beauty of nature.

Rachel has studied with Ray Roberts, Mark Kerckhoff, Ken Auster, Cynthia Britain and Saim Caglayan.

"Heisler Rocks"

Rachel Uchizono:

"For the last twelve years I have been developing as an artist at an accelerated pace. At some point during the last five years I started looking at painting from a different perspective. Value and tone began to make perfect sense. Color choices have become an intellectual decision depending on what feeling you are trying to relate. When you have the correct value another world of expression becomes available. This development has been hard won as severe injury from an accident played a part. Painting became my rehabilitation and my road to recovery was long with dependence on narcotics (with my very own pain management team). While I would not recommend this path to anyone, it certainly influenced the way I paint and think about painting. I feel every experience adds to your art and after completing that particular journey there is a maturity to my painting and an emotional tone that is uniquely mine."

"Roses and the Kissing Vase"

"My life as an artist began at an early age. I was writing songs at 6 years old and singing professionally by age twelve. In the late 1970’s and 1980’s I was playing the Troubadour once a month with my band and submitting songs to other artists. The Runaways recorded one of my songs called “I Wanna Run With The Bad Boys” and you can find it on Itunes. After being chewed up and spit out by Los Angeles (young female singers really need a good support system), I met my now ex-husband and settled down to raise our two boys, Nolan and Kellen. After twenty years of marriage we divorced but not before I had an epiphany and started painting."

"Chinese Lantern and the Peacock Cup"

"My focus on painting has been committed. I have met wonderful supportive artists who have given me some technical knowledge about composition and laying down the paint. Dan Pinkham told me “Rachel, you paint like a man”. I consider this to be the best compliment as I feel fearless when I paint."