By Bridney C.
Nine months ago, Rebekah Church, a visual artist was interviewed by the Sweet Scoop Media. Hailing from Norwich, Connecticut, she is a graduate of Three Rivers Community College and received her Associate's degree in Fine Arts.
Aside from being a visual artist, Rebekah is also a freelance comic book who has previous experience illustrating various comic books and was involved in the creative process for coming up with the concepts and storylines.
She, along with five other artists were set to display their artworks at an exhibition at the Hygienic Art Gallery in April called "Collective Environments," but was abruptly canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We caught up with Rebekah to find out about her latest art projects, her collaboration with Matt C Ryan on a recently published comic book, and her exhibition next year at the Hygienic Art Gallery.
Have you been dedicating more time to your art lately? If so, what have you been working on? Yes, I’ve been experimenting with different art mediums such as acrylics, chalk pastels, and recently, digital art on Photoshop. However, my strongest art medium are my pen-and-inks. Recently, I’ve been creating portraits with chalk pastels and have plans for a large oil painting.
BC: Your art show at the Hygienic Art Gallery in New London, "Collective Environments" has been postponed to April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What are you most looking forward to next year?
RC: What I’m most excited about is being able to learn more about the other artists’ works and further working with Hygienic Art. I’ll be working on new art pieces for the show to improve my presented portfolio in the art exhibition.
BC: How did the collaboration with Matt C Ryan, owner and founder of Free Lunch Studios come about?
RC: Matt C Ryan has taught me for years on how to represent both storytelling and art in comic books and to better understand how the comic industry works as well. I first met him back in 2015 at a comic show called “Cliff’s Con” located in Plainville, Connecticut. During Matt’s classes, I collaborated with both him and other students of his to create the first issue of a 24-page comic book called “Free Lunch Comics Jam” where it features small 8-page stories.
The 8-pager created by me is called “North” who is a small puppy that proves to her older brother that she’s capable of holding leadership roles and traits. It was very exciting for me to draw my characters out of sketchbooks and onto professional comic boards which would be ending up in a published book format.
BC: What made you decide to create "Anchors Above and Below" and what type of meaning does it hold for you?
RC: I decided to create “Anchors Above and Below” to have a colorful bookcase to house my books in. The meaning behind this project is to encourage more reading of books especially during the pandemic and shutdown. I used wood paint, with the color being pure aqua, as the undercoat for the bookcase and black-and-white acrylic paints to paint in the clouds and anchors. The anchors were inspiration from when I used to live in New London and walk past houses with decorative anchors outside on people’s lawns.
BC: What made you decide to create "Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Dog" Can you explain the painting in more detail?
RC: The "Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Dog" painting was a recent commission of mine to expand my pet portrait portfolio.
BC: Have you been working on new miscellaneous pet portraits? Where can people contact you if they would like a portrait?
RC: I’ve worked on pet portraits from cats, dogs, and including all types of animals. My most recent pet portrait that was not based on a cat or dog was a rabbit named Georgina.
If anyone is interested in a commission, please feel free to contact me through my Reebs Illustrations Facebook and my secondary art page on Instagram. I use Paypal for any transactions of payment and have a Patreon account for any appreciated donations to support me and my artwork.
BC: As an artist, what are you most looking forward to as soon as the quarantine ends?
RC: Once the quarantine is over, I plan on going on more hikes in the forest and walks on the beaches. Anything that can inspire me to draw or paint. It will be great to be in contact with family and friends again as well as getting things back to normal. I’ve been working more on writing skills and my hopes are to publish another comic book or perhaps even my first children’s book.
To hear and see more from Rebekah Church, be sure to follow her
on Facebook and Instagram. For any commissions, Rebekah can be contacted via Paypal at Paypal.com/rebekahchurcharts and Patreon at Patreon.com/rebekahchurcharts.