Rhonda Schrage and Reckless Faith Art

I’m Rhonda, an acrylic and mixed media artist, color-lover, and outdoor beauty-seeker.

I am a believer, a wife, Mom to 3 kiddos, and an artist. In that order.

Faith brought me to my in-home studio in 2015 when I quit my job as an act of “reckless” faith, and faith is interwoven into each painting that comes out of the studio.

My paintings are created in layers, each layer building onto the previous layer to add depth and texture, leaving bits of the underpainting peeking though and scratching through the surface to reveal what’s underneath. Each painting starts with bold brushes of color, textures and patterns for a colorful, messy beginning. I use a water soluble artist crayon to write a message on that first layer, sometimes a prayer, sometimes lyrics to a song or scripture or whatever is on my heart and mind at that moment. That message sometimes peeks through in the final painting and sometimes gets mixed in with subsequent layers. You will find the message to each painting in the description of the painting as well as on the certificate of authenticity that accompanies each original painting. It’s an intuitive process and as the messy layers start to build up, I let the images come out of the brushstrokes to inspire what the painting will become.

So much time is spent mixing and testing marks before it even touches the canvas, part of the story is left on the palette. That’s why my favorite mixed media element to add into my work is dried paint skins peeled off my paint palette.