Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhiannon Guppy.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Art has always been a part of my life, but my journey back to painting was anything but straightforward. Originally from Leicester (Lester), England, I studied art, photography, and silversmithing before spending a decade in design planning for a global greeting card company. Creativity was always there, but after years of working within structured design, I found myself craving something more personal.
Life took me across two continents, moving 24 times with my husband’s playing and coaching career in professional football (soccer). Each new place brought change – exciting, unsettling and full of possibility. That sense of movement, of being untethered yet deeply connected to my English roots, now defines my work. Clouds, ever-shifting but constant, have become a recurring theme symbols of both freedom and the grounding presence of home. No matter where I am, the same sky stretches above all my loved ones.
My return to painting took a long time, it wasn’t an easy journey, motherhood, our constant relocation and stepping away from my creative career I had built made it hard to find where my passion was. For a long time, I struggled to find my ‘thing’ but moving back to England for the 4th time from America I found community with my College artist friend Anna Michalska and a wonderful group of friends who met every Friday and who encouraged me to keep going when I moved. When we moved to America in 2020 for the 5th time we settled in Franklin, Tennessee, the unexpected slower pace in 2020 I was able to reset and explore and it just felt right, my kids & I painted almost everyday on our outdoor deck and from there I had my first art crawl, it was in a beautiful interior store Onyx & Alabaster and I sold 13 pieces and consigned afterwards and sold out, I have now had numerous art crawls and shows and last year had a pop up show at Soho House Nashville which was such a beautiful venue to see my art, most recently I displayed my art in the Stonebridge Gallery in the Factory Franklin and Online with The Scouted Studio Gallery show. I’ve now found my community here in Franklin and The Arts Council of Williamson County, where I now serve as VP, organizing artists for the crawl and curating shows & events.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Imposter syndrome is REAL but moving to America has given me a confidence to really pursue my dreams, Americans seem to have a different kind of confidence I’ve borrowed that and its very freeing, I also think moving so much I’ve had to reinvent my life many times over I’ve got very good at creating community, community is so important. Age helps also, ‘if not now? then when?’ is my attitude so I just make and put myself out there.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Abstract art is my art style alongside a whimsical almost illustrated feel, my two loves art & book illustration – My art process is fluid and intuitive. I often start with (coffee & salt & vinegar chips) and paint mini artist trading cards to loosen up before moving to larger canvases. I layer acrylics, inks, oil sticks, and charcoal, but I’m most drawn to watercolor and fluid acrylics for their movement and unpredictability. I paint on raw canvas or linen, treating the surface with clear gesso to create a softness that enhances the dreamlike quality of my work.
For me, my art is about capturing whimsical beauty of an imagined world, I envision dreamlike ethereal landscape, like deep dreaming or underwater realms, I love that the observer can get lost in my art. My practice is always evolving, and I’m excited to keep pushing the boundaries of scale, palette, and material, bringing my inner visions to life, currently working in new color palettes and experimenting with raw leather as my canvas, also looking to incorporate more stitching and layers to my canvas, floating layers in-front to look through and stitched moment to add texture, Im also fascinated by migrations of birds or people I think this will feature in my work going forward.
Currently I have work at two shared office spaces in Nashville, Harbor & Union and Serendipity Labs, I also have regular Art Crawl events in Franklin TN.
I also have a fun illustrated range of stickers and retro red sticker machine and also create children’s room art, think nursery rhymes, mystical woodland creatures and one character – Duke Tootenboom the Guitar playing raccoon, my children’s books are in the works @goldieface_
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @rhiannonguppyart
