We recently connected with Rebecca Pearl and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebecca, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve loved horses my whole life, but acquired first one at age 55. He was a retired USPark Police Horse named Gilbert. He taught me to ride, and passed away 10 years later.
I wanted another horse, so rescued a 17 yr old trotter from the killpen. He was beaten up from being on the track, then pulling Amish buggies.
With good food, love and trust, slowly he allowed me to ride him.
Since then I have rescued several more Standardbreds, and they have become the subjects in my many of my paintings.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My father, James Pearl was a self taught commercial artist from Philadelphia. He joined the Army when world War 2 was starting, they trained him in drafting and perspective drawing and put him in the high clearance strategic maps division London. He met my Mother there, married and brought her home to the US.
He always had his studio in our house, so from a young age, I was fascinated by his drawings, lettering, and illustrative paintings.
I started to draw at age 3, mostly figures, trees and horses..
I did not do well in high school, but managed to attend the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore for a couple years. Becoming a dyslexic, rebellious hippy, I moved to California for a short time, hit the bottom, and came back to Maryland where I studied nursing thru a government program, the Manpower Act (affordable)
After I passed my state boards I worked in several hospitals in Baltimore, mostly in psychiatry and dementia. But thru it all, always maintained a place in my home to draw and paint. After the birth of my daughter and a divorce, I continued working part time but started developing an art business at home. I became quite accomplished doing portraits of children, dogs, cats and horses mostly in pastel. I rented a spot in a shopping mall near Roland Park, north Baltimore City, where I set up my easel 2 afternoons a week. Before long mostly word of mouth, and meeting the public, my work caught on and I was doing mostly paintings of dogs, which I excelled at.
Still raising my daughter and working part time as a nurse, I opened the Pearl Gallery on the Avenue, in Hamden, Baltimore. The rent was cheap, and I put my portraits and paintings in the store window. In the meantime I fell in love with the historic architecture of Baltimore, having worked on 2 house restoration projects downtown.
To make money, I did 4 pen and ink drawings of Baltimore’s more well known places, had them printed on watercolor paper, and began handcolorng each one. They were a limited edition and signed, selling for $65 each.
One of the images was “the Memorial Stadium”. One of the original members of the Baltimore Colts acquired it, and had all the living Colts sign it. One of the reproductions later brought $6,500 at a Lenny Moore fund raiser!
I moved from Balto out to Frederick County, Md, about 1998 so that my daughter could go to high school in a more rural environment. We moved to a small town called New Market where I was again inspired to draw and paint the old houses, churches, barns, and familiar places. I got a small space in the Rossig art gallery to set up my easel. Soon there was a positive response to my work, and I got commissioned to paint 6 large watercolors for the newly built “MacDonalds” restaurant.
I started attending outdoor festivals around Frederick County, displaying my work for sale. By this time I had an inventory of framed original watercolors, Giclee prints, matted prints, and pastel samples of dogs mostly. I would say a lot of my success came from going out in public with my work, handing out business cards, and listening to their thoughts and preferences. I tried experimenting with subject matter, color and style to see how they responded.
I believe the influence of my father, who needed to earn money with his skills in art, was a great advantage to me in being willing to do commissioned art for pay, while developing my authentic self as a painter, and raising my daughter.
While in Frederick County, I designed the 150th commemorative piece for the Great Fair, which was auctioned for $ 13,000. I also painted a portrait of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton which was delivered to Pope John Paul ll in 2004. I developed a business doing commemorative pieces for schools, churches and historics places, mostly in watercolor. I also did a major project for Kinkisherio, a commuter train company in Japan.
Currently I’m retired from nursing, live on a small farm, have 6 rescued horses, and can’t wait to start my next painting. I enjoy the small town environment, and like learning it’s history, of settlements, buildings, churches, and business. I believe the Past is with us in so many ways…
I have the Rebecca Pearl Gallery in Thurmont MD. My original paintings, giclee prints, greeting cards, and custom framing is available. Camp David is nearby, and we recently lost the “Cosy Restaurant, where many famous people dined. Such as: JFK, Eisenhower, F. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, to name a few. Before the restaurant was removed, I did a painting of it with ghostlike figures of the people mentioned above in the foreground, so we won’t forget.
I teach watercolor tuesday am at my home, which is very meaningful to me as I continue to grow,by sharing some things I have learned along the way with my students. My country home with, the rescued horses, German shepherds, and cats, is a peaceful paradise in which to be inspired, feel at peace and create.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I have been told I have depression, anxiety disorder, slight dyslexia, and as a result I have empathy and curiosity concerning other people.
From a base of general intuitive love of others, like to get to know what other people are doing, feeling, thinking, and working at.
This has enriched my approach to creating what other people might enjoy and be interested in collecting for their own enviornment.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started building on facebook, 5 years ago. First with friends and family, then with people of like interests.
I share my paintings in progress, sometimes, and have had success in sales and commissions as a result. Also being a horse person, have cultivated a nice following with my equine art.

Contact Info:

• Website: Rebecca Pearl.com
• Facebook: Rebecca Pearl
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits

Robert Buckheit
Jason Vest