Color 8.1 Buy This Issue Now

Rachell Sumpter paints landscapes that are remarkably, forcefully beautiful. Her soft layers of gouache and pastel are luminescent, her palette kaleidoscopic and dazzling. With such an apparent devotion to beauty, it’s no wonder that Sumpter leads a rather romantic life herself, calling a tiny West Coast island – with a population of about 100 – home. Situated off the coast of Washington, with the lights of Vancouver, BC, visible on the horizon, she describes her existence as pastoral, having “no power, no asphalt, no stores and no hot water.”