In April Rimpo’s work, the strong colors we usually associate with oils and the flowing quality of watercolors meet in images that have a dreamy intensity. Rimpo’s use of water-based media distinguishes her from many other artists. She uses much more pigment than most watercolor painters do, resulting in images with a uniquely dynamic quality. The powerful contrast of light and shadow in her work further heightens the energy that her paintings generate.
That sense of contrast also carries over into the composition of these works. Rimpo says that watercolors allow her to work “loosely and creatively,” adding an air of spontaneity that plays off of whatever plans she has in mind when she starts a painting. That freedom is reflected in the disarmingly casual look possessed by even the most carefully composed of these paintings. The artist, who lives and works in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area, has also worked in oil and fluid acrylics, and is constantly expanding the number of approaches she can use to draw viewers into her paintings.