Exploring Beauty in Everyday Moments

Hi, I’m Rainbow Willard—an artist, educator, and visual storyteller.

I’m a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in acrylic, colored pencil, gouache, oils, and graphite. My creative practice centers around themes of transformation, inner dialogue, and everyday beauty. My work often explores universal experiences—grappling with expectations, reclaiming joy, navigating motherhood, and honoring small moments of tenderness.

My subject matter ranges from still life and symbolic objects to emotionally charged scenes and surreal compositions. Whether observational or imagined, my work reflects a deep curiosity about how we process memory, emotion, and identity through visual form.

As both a working artist and an art educator, I believe in the power of visual language to build connection, confidence, and curiosity. Whether I’m teaching students how to shade a sphere or guiding them through self-reflective projects, I bring the same care and intention to the classroom that I do to the studio.

One of my recent projects is a 48-piece oracle deck featuring stylized botanicals, landscapes and everyday objects that play with scale, color, and form. I’m currently working on a new series that reflects on childhood through a softened, introspective lens—capturing the bittersweet beauty of growth and healing without leaning into sentimentality.

Whether I’m layering luminous washes of gouache or rendering intricate drawings in colored pencil, I aim to make work that feels like something—art that stirs, soothes, surprises, or invites a pause.

I live and work in central Virginia, where I’m usually painting late into the night, or dreaming up my next series over a strong cup of tea.