Chasing the Light
The light doesn’t last for long. The colors dim in the looming dusk, and Fen Rascoe knows he must catch them before they vanish. His paintbrush is tipped with ochre, the color of a soybean field in winter, as wet and glistening as a bend in the Cashie River. There’s no time to waste. The sun on the horizon and the paint on his palette can’t wait.
Rascoe paints Eastern North Carolina landscapes and the images they offer of a lifestyle closely tied to the land. He paints tobacco barns and sailboats, cypress trees and farm fields. He works in the plein air technique; French for “open air,” the approach roots the artist outside and in the moment. And he paints with an Italian style known as “alla prima,” which requires layering wet paint over wet paint, often quickly, always with great intent.
A son of the Eastern North Carolina soils and sands, Rascoe is a decorated artist and lauded teacher. For inspiration, he has his own life lived in small towns and wild places. For a studio, he has all of Bertie County and beyond, a trove of beauty awaiting an artist whose first step of creation is stepping outside.
