Rebecca Potter: Art in Color

Rebecca Potter has been living in the world of art her entire life. As a child she was inspired by books and comics, as well as a love of horses; she would often draw stick figure horses, and her mother helped improve her skills. She also spent hours oil painting with her grandmother as they both followed along with Bob Ross on Television.

Rebecca graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and has been pursuing art professionally ever since.

In the beginning of her career, Rebecca worked as a graphic designer, a fortuitous and very important part of her journey, as she filled in for a woman who went on maternity leave at the local news paper. Through this experience she was able to experiment with new platforms, while enhancing her creativity.

“I like to create art that tells a story. I do a lot of commission-based work that allows me to have a framework to start from, and then I put my own creative spin on it. It allows me to take an idea and create a story that makes sense in my head.”

When Rebecca started working as a Graphic Designer, she had to make the transition from photoshop to adobe illustrator. It was a learning curve, but Rebecca persisted with an open mind and a passion to learn.

Inadvertently, this transition propelled her into new and exciting ways of creating art! One of her first creations using Adobe Illustrator caught the eye of a gentleman who later commissioned her to design a fox tattoo. This led to a style that has resulted in her most popular and sought after work to date. This style is vector based, in contrast to rastor-based programs like Photoshop; vector work focuses on creating varying shapes, which are laid on top of each other to create a bigger picture. These shapes vary in size, style, color and transparency, and can create a simple image or a literal masterpiece.

Today Rebecca gets her inspiration from the world around her.

While she has a studio at her home in Kent, WA, just 30 minutes from Seattle, she often goes out into the world to extract ideas. Once she has created her sketches, she then gets down to creating the whole picture and the details of how she wants it to look on paper. A lot of her commission work comes from people wanting her to design a tattoo for them or falling in love with a design she has already created.

“It’s the biggest form of flattery when someone loves your design so much that they want it permanently imprinted on their body. There’s a difference between someone saying, ‘that’s pretty,’ while walking away and someone saying, ‘I need to have that in my home or on my body.’”

Along with creating commission-based art pieces, Rebecca participates in several conventions around the Pacific Northwest every year: including Portland, Seattle, Puyallup and Spokane. One of her favorite conventions is in Chicago. She also attends conventions in California, as well as contributing to Museum Contempo, a local art gallery in Shelton, WA.

Museum Contempo will be hosting an art show this coming October, where Rebecca will have several pieces on display! The art show will continue through the holiday season ✨️

In the future, Rebecca says she would love to learn how to create stained glass, as well as traditional Japanese inspired designs.

You can check out some of Rebeccas designs by clicking the link below, as well as receive information and details regarding the upcoming art show!

RHPotter Artwork Museum Contempo