Deborah rubin painter

Deborah Rubin paints in watercolor and occasionally acrylic and gouache. She has been pushing the boundaries of photo-realism and hyper-realism since the mid 1970′s with an eye on nature and more recently, architecture. Born in Chicago in 1948, Rubin holds a BFA from the University of Illinois. She currently lives in Western Massachusetts.

My Art
I’ve created art ever since I was a toddler; I never had to make a decision about my career. In 1970 I received my bachelor of fine arts from the University of Illinois and my graduate degree in painting from the University of Minnesota one year later.

While I’m known for my watercolor and gouache paintings, I’m currently dabbling with oils but it’s difficult to stay clean and I seem to step in the paint, smear it and get it all over the place. I typically work from photographs except when I’m on vacation. That’s when I sketch plein air paintings. I often paint with palette, but I do use Naples yellow and Davy’s gray for toning down colors. Sometimes I add black to brown or blue. My students shy away from black having been told that artists are not supposed to use it. I tell them that we must be using it or else paint companies wouldn’t be selling it.

My inspiration comes from everywhere, especially when I walk, bike and travel as a car passenger. I see images that are funny, amusing and powerful in color or simply light and dark tones. My head is constantly swimming with imagery. I tell my students that everything can be transformed into a painting.

---