Emerging Artists | Rebecca Luncan - Southwest Art Magazine

Labors of love

Rebecca Luncan, Arlington, oil, 24 x 36.

This story was featured in the November 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

A few years ago, while juggling her usual stream of portrait commissions, Lynnwood, WA, artist Rebecca Luncan set out on an ongoing personal project to create a new miniature painting each month. She devoted her very first series to depicting her beloved pet rabbits, Charlemagne and Eleanor, in 17 surprisingly distinctive portraits. In one piece, for example, “Charlie” is pictured in quiet repose beneath a shower of snowflakes. In another work, “Ellie” hops past a mountainous, moonlit landscape inspired by German Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). “With every miniature I create, I’m trying to find that intimacy that you don’t get with large works,” explains Luncan. “With miniatures, you are the only one in the room who can look at the painting at one time.”

: Rebecca Luncan, Moon Rabbit, oil, 4 x 3.

: Rebecca Luncan, Bruno, oil, 4 x 4.

: Rebecca Luncan, Olwyn, oil, 4 x 4.

Each piece in the artist’s rabbit series ranges in size from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Even for a seasoned pro like Luncan—who has been painting both animals and people on a small and large scale for more than 20 years—creating such tiny portraits in her realist style isn’t easy. “I was just painting a hand that was an eighth of an inch, and it took hours to paint,” she says. “It’s the torture and the magic of painting, to struggle with it.”

Indeed, miniatures are a labor of love for the classically trained artist. Her fascination with the format emerged during her studies at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, where she also got “hooked on” painting on metal. Today she alternates between copper and aluminum. Not only are these materials “extremely archival,” notes Luncan, but they also provide a smooth surface upon which to work, allowing her to focus fully on details as intricate as eyelashes, whiskers, and hair.

: Rebecca Luncan, Admiral Vox, oil, 8 x 8.

: Rebecca Luncan, Maggie, oil, 4 x 4.

: Rebecca Luncan, Honeybees, oil, 4 x 4.

The products of the artist’s toils—no matter their size—are big on personality. ADMIRAL VOX, which garnered an award in this year’s Art Renewal Center Salon, stars an irresistibly charming Silkie chicken belonging to Luncan’s mother-in-law. With his stern gaze and fluffy crown, this chicken resembles a no-nonsense commander. His portrait is a slightly larger piece in the artist’s recent series of 4-by-4-inch miniatures featuring a variety of barnyard animals, including Wally the Highland cow. “I enjoy painting larger works, too,” says Luncan, “but I think I’ll always paint miniatures for as long as my eyes can take it.” —Kim Agricola

representation
Winfield Gallery, Carmel, CA; www.rebeccaluncan.com.