ArtistsNetwork.com 35INTERIOR MEETS EXTERIOR
Rabe’s point of focus is her home, its interiors and the
way natural light changes how she perceives what’s in
front of her. “People ask me, ‘Aren’t you going to run out
of things to paint in your house?’ ” she says. “You know,
every day it looks different. We have four seasons here
in Massachusetts, and the light changes dramatically
in all of them. It can be something minor such as the light
reflection on the floor or light hitting the side of a cabinet.
All of the colors and values in front of me are influenced by
what kind of day it is.”
Rabe’s home features lots of large windows, making it
easier for her to experiment with those light and value
changes throughout the day. “Light alters the local color
of the objects and spaces in my home,” she says. “Some
days I can look in a room and everything has a warm orange
glow or a bright yellowy-green cast [as in Open Doors, oppo-
site]. That inspires me because the room appears to glow.”
Although her work focuses on and is rooted indoors, it
doesn’t exclude the outdoors. “In my painting, there’s both
an interior and an exterior,” she says. “What’s happening
outside the window is usually bright, so if my eye shifts to
the outside, everything becomes dark. If I’m focusing on
the interior space, then the values open outside, and the
window just becomes a light value overall. That, to me, is
exciting because it’s both complex and challenging. I love
the relationship between the outside and the inside.”