YR 41 Artist Spotlight: Rebecca Alarcon
“The Best Playground”
About the Art
Some days it’s hard to decide whether to climb or paint. On this day, I left my group of climbing friends and scooped up our three 10 year olds, friends since birth, and we hiked to Lower Cathedral Lake where we each could set up a base, mine for painting and theirs for playing. What joy to watch them play by the lake - the best kind of playground.
About the Artist
My love of the mountains started at an early age, full of wonder standing as a teenager atop Mt. Langley or backpacking through John Muir Wilderness with my family, an annual tradition. Visiting these places always feels like returning home. My paintings are imbued with both appreciation and nostalgia for these beautiful, fleeting moments. The unrelenting passage of time, both in my own life and in the life of these rapidly changing places has compelled me to paint. These paintings, or love letters, are a way to express my gratitude and in some ways to say good-bye. In painting these places I stay connected and I hope you do as well.
In addition to the love of an adventure in the Sierras, an equal passion is my love of creating. Despite this, I never pursued art professionally and merely dabbled with art up until 5 years ago. I had found art as a way to connect with the places I love. Yosemite Renaissance 37 was the first time I had ever applied and been accepted into a show. Since then, I’ve participated in more shows and am elated to have received an honorable mention for a painting in the “Smaller Paintings” California Watercolor Association juried exhibition, 3rd Place in the YR39 show for “Candyland Perspective in Gouache,” 2nd Place in the YR40 show for “California Lights,” and honorable mention in the Mono Arts Council Plein Air Competition in June 2025.
I love to experiment in many different mediums like oils, acrylics and alcohol inks, transparent watercolor, or gouache. As adventurer and lover of all things wild and daring, I substitute certainty and control with patients and instead showcase the untamable, wild properties. Having explored the medium of oils more this past year, I enjoyed the challenge and wildness of applying thick, buttery paint with only a palette knife. Intentionality paired with brave, bold strokes in an impasto style have allowed me to purposefully depart from the confines of realism and embrace a modern impressionistic style that feels truer to my experience with the magical places I paint. I hope you enjoy them!
