Once there was a dark forest, quiet and uncertain. Yet just beyond its shadows, a hidden garden waited, glowing with soft colors, gentle light and the wonder of imagination.
My paintings have always been a way of telling stories. Earlier works carried a darker tone with a lonely princess, vast waves, and dreamscapes filled with searching. They were quiet solitary worlds where figures stood apart, finding their own light.
In time, the shadows gave way to softer colors, animals appeared and children began to play among the trees. Now, the canvases hold enchanted gardens and forest clearings, spaces filled with swans, companions and imagination.
Beyond the Forest brings these chapters together.
Beyond the Forest is an invitation into a world shaped by childhood imagination, soft colors, and the tender act of remembering. It is where memory and possibility meet, where darker paths of the past open into brighter worlds of beauty and belonging. Returning to what was loved as a child, painting enchanted gardens where children play together among animals, a storybook world that feels remembered and newly imagined.
Inspired by the wonder of children’s books, the lyricism of music, and the nature of my own daydreams, these paintings imagine a place that feels as though it could one day live within the pages of a storybook.
Each work follows a journey, walking through the shadows of a dark forest and emerging into a garden glowing with light, safety and color. These paintings transform what was once uncertain into a place of renewal, where imagination becomes a guiding compass.
Artist Bio - Rachel Marie
Rachel is a painter whose work is rooted in storytelling, imagination and lived experience. She grew up in the city before moving to a small town near the ocean, which continues to inspire her art. Since she was a child, she has loved art. She minored in drawing/ studio arts in college and later during the pandemic, taught herself to paint with acrylics, developing a semi-abstract, illustrative style that draws from impressionism while remaining distinctly her own and a passion since.
Her work often transforms personal experience and feelings into color, light and form. It is deeply inspired by music, poetry and personal memories. Through her paintings, Rachel creates dreamlike spaces where emotion and imagination meet, inviting viewers to step inside and experience her stories for themselves.
She experiences a unique connection between sound and vision, seeing music in color and movement, an ability her college art teacher recognized as a form of synesthesia. This sensory experience shapes her work, allowing her to translate rhythm, melody and emotion into her paintings.
Her creative process often begins with stories and images in her head, which she develops into fully realized paintings. Each piece is part of an ongoing exploration, and her current series is inspired by the structure and wonder of children’s storybooks. Through these works, Rachel continues to expand her visual storytelling, imagining worlds where light, play and possibility are brought vividly to life.
