Rachelle Dusting is a Boorloo/Perth-based artist and educator whose oil paintings and sketches capture everyday stories and experiences. Rachelle has an extensive background in Arts and education, completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the University of Western Australia in 2012, furthering her drawing studies at the New York Academy of Art Summer Workshop Series in 2018, completing a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning Higher Education in 2021, and now currently running The Painting School; fortnightly oil painting classes that create a space for artists to dive into their practice in a supportive environment.  

Working out of a a studio space at Goolagatup Heathcote in Applecross, Rachelle has the space to practice consistency and routine when developing her commissioned, exhibition, and retail pieces. Rachelle starts her creative days with a coffee and completing her Morning Pages from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way.” This meditative journalling exercise allows Rachelle to clear her mind and set a clear intention for the work ahead. Calming, instrumental low-fi beats, a spiritual podcast, or a motivational audiobook act as the soundtrack to Rachelle’s practice. Each piece can take between sixty to seventy hours to complete depending on the complexity of the subject and the medium chosen, so routine and focus are especially important to Rachelle.  

“When I need inspiration, I pop outside and go for a walk on the grounds, surrounding myself in local nature located along the Applecross foreshore.” 

Although identifying primarily as an oil painter, Rachelle considers painting as an extension of her first love: drawing.  

“Drawing is my first love and the very foundation I have built my realism practice on. You can never draw enough!” 

When starting a piece, Rachelle finds that her inspiration shifts between the subject and the medium. Speaking on her charcoal drawings Pair of Pairs I & II available in Store, Rachelle noted that she was inspired to capture something quickly. Despite loving the organic shapes of the pairs and overall composition of the still life, the immediacy of charcoal as a medium and the short window in which the pieces were created inspired the piece. With her oil paintings and portraiture, Rachelle begins with subject as the inspiration over the medium, although she noted that oil has the capacity to inspire her process and motivation to continue with the piece; the more she sculpts the paint, the more the image comes to life.  

Prior to Covid-19, Rachelle ran a mini event series called The Artists Path. This series was an opportunity for emerging artists to come together to ask the questions faced when taking a creative hobby to a professional level: how do I charge for my work, do I need a website, and how do I get my work out there? Noting the minimal guidebooks offering this advice to emerging artists, Rachelle wanted to provide a space for such inquisition, allowing her to grow in her own practice also.  

“Often articulating to others what we do in our process helps consolidate that process for ourselves and gives us the confidence we need to continue that growth.” 

When asked about the advice she would give to emerging artists in Western Australia, Rachelle emphasised the importance of curiosity and determination.  

“Keep asking questions and keep knocking on doors of opportunity. Don’t give up, every action made in your emerging career is a seed planted.” 

Rachelle’s pieces tell a story, each emitting a feeling of beauty and hope. Often drawn to work in galleries that have a strong focus towards light and shadow, Rachelle hopes that such contrast and emotion are conveyed in her pieces.  

“It’s the dance of both (light and shadow) in our lives, beauty amidst pain, celebration, and sorrow, that I wish to be carried as a reminder in my work that the two can coexist.” 

Images courtesy of Kate Anderson, Henri Pham, Chelle Archebald and Mason Roberts.