About Collection: The Skies Cried as My Fathers Died

In this intimate and deeply personal collection of paintings, Rachel Brask channels some of the bittersweet grief and broken beauty she experienced in mourning the illnesses and deaths of her father, Keith, and father-in-law, Wil, within months of each other. These overlapping waves of grief and memory are expressed through her signature style of rainy oil paintings of abstracted landscape. This collection is inspired by painting the skies and landscapes experienced and recalled by the artist and her husband during milestones and memories in their fathers’ respective end of life journeys. Some memories are difficult, others are joyful or ironic. 

During times of crisis and loss, we project our fears, emotions and questions into the skies. We look up for many reasons: needing escape, seeking answers, expressing anger, needing hope, searching for meaning, observing in awe, pushed to existential exhaustion, and craving connection. Rain also has a special ability to provide a quiet veil upon which we recall memories, contemplate meaning, and it gives us a pause that can quiet our thoughts and allow feelings in. These paintings are about seeking the light in the darkness, hope in the abysmal, and beauty in the storm.