((Left) Rushing Water, (Middle) Waiting To Be of Service, (Right) Surface As Subject by Rebecca Sentgeorge)
What happens when you paint the light on dark paper instead of painting the shadows on white?
That is the question Redmond artist Rebecca Sentgeorge explores in Emergence: Bringing Forth the Light, a solo exhibition of gouache paintings on black and dark-toned paper. The exhibition will be on view throughout October at The OXFORD Hotel in downtown Bend.
Sentgeorge has worked with watercolor for many years, but gouache has recently opened up new possibilities in her studio. Unlike transparent watercolor, gouache is an opaque paint that can cover the surface beneath it. On dark paper, however, the process becomes a little different. Instead of painting the shadows, she leaves portions of the paper untouched and allows its deep tones to do the work.
Sentgeorge describes the process as both a challenge and a game. “I tried to find a balance between leaving some of the paper’s color visible and building up layers of gouache. I found myself aiming for about 25 percent unpainted paper and 75 percent paint. It became a kind of game that I played with myself.”
The paintings range from still lifes of old silver to reflections on water and scenes from the natural world. In one, koi emerge from beneath the surface of reflective water. In others, the polished surfaces of tarnished silver reveal unexpected details, including reflections of the artist herself.
For Sentgeorge, the appeal of the process lies in discovering how the paint behaves. She experiments with the amount of water added to the gouache, how the layers build up, and how the paint lifts from the dark surface. The resulting paintings are both representational and interpretive, with the unpainted paper playing an important role in the mood and atmosphere of each work.
Emergence: Bringing Forth the Light will be on view throughout October 2026 at The Oxford Hotel in downtown Bend, Oregon.
About the Artist
Rebecca Sentgeorge is a painter and printmaker based in Redmond, Oregon. Her work explores everyday life through observation and interpretation, using watercolor, gouache, and mixed media to find expressive possibilities in familiar subjects.
She is a member of the High Desert Art League, Watercolor Society of Oregon, and Dry Canyon Art Association. Her work can be seen at Hood Avenue Art Gallery in Sisters and Dry Canyon Arts in Redmond.