Color-Saturated Compositions: Art by Rayne Tunley
Afternoon, Canoe Lake, watermedia
Rayne Tunley is a Canadian artist and art educator currently based in Ontario. Rayne’s body of work primarily features watercolor paintings with color-saturated compositions that mimic the liquidity of the medium.
Dusk's Kiss, varnished watercolor
The works in Rayne’s gallery of watercolor paintings are fascinating – I’m impressed by how the artist is able to innovate with a medium that is often so tricky to control. Most of the compositions oscillate between sweeping landscapes and near-monochromatic abstractions, and a saturated, electric blue hue comprises a large part of the color palette. Even when Rayne is painting a grassy field, the aesthetic of the work seems to reference water, tying it back to the medium.
The front page of Rayne's art website
I’m also quiet interested in Rayne’s drawings – these black and white compositions seem abstract at first, yet when viewed alongside her watercolor landscapes they seem more like close-ups of undulating forms, like ocean waves or the grooves in a tree trunk. Some remind me of work by Ryan Tippery, though smoother, and less rustic in terms of subject.