Where the Lupins Grow

by Rachel Romanowsky

“My creative practice is grounded in a deep reverence for the physical mass, narrative mystery, and tactile memory of transitional spaces. Working in a heavy, expressive impressionist style informed by historical impasto techniques, I seek to bridge the gap between architectural structure and wild, organic growth. Each canvas begins with a foundational blend of oil mediums and ground marble dust, transforming the flat surface into a sculptural, relief-like terrain where thick palette knife strokes catch and shift ambient light. In Where the Lupins Grow, this methodology explores a profound visual threshold. The composition follows a young boy stepping through a door in an ivy-covered brick wall, caught between two distinct worlds. Behind him lies a structured landscape of manicured gardens and formal architecture - a realm of order and containment. As he crosses the threshold onto a winding path, he emerges into an immersive, untamed field of lupines that erupts across the foreground. Built with dense, gestural layers of paint and mineral grit, the brick wall and the sprawling flowers become tactile, physical presences. The painting serves as an allegory for discovery, growth, and the courage required to step away from the familiar into the vibrant, uncultivated beauty of the unknown. Ultimately, the work invites the viewer to stand at the edge of this threshold, experiencing the transition not merely as a narrative window, but as an intimate, sensory encounter with the literal weight of light, architecture, and wilderness.”