Hi, my name is Rebecca Taubman-Schnitzer. I am a painter based in Dallas, Texas. Much of my subject matter includes a modern take on iconic symbols of the 60s and 70s, but more so in the often seen Japanese design references in my work. Porcelain vases, tansu, a fresh-flower Tokonoma, tatami mats, shoji screens and Japanese wood carvings, to name a few. I love to include these elements in my paintings. My [American} parents built a truly Japanese home for their large, western family—-my sisters and me! They were drawn to the Japanese sensibilities of refinement, exquisite craftsmanship, and the simplicity and functionality of design. My sisters and I were deeply influenced by these things growing up and each of our homes reflects it!

The bigger the canvas the better, as the larger surface area helps me to visually expand a story and even compartmentalize a painting within a painting, which happens quite by chance! If the colors are hopping off and around the canvas, and your eyes are playing tricks on you, then in my mind, I’ve done something right. I like to play around with the effects of side x side light against dark colors to produce shadows and 3-D effects. I love how complementary, opposite, or tertiary colors are affected simply by what’s painted right next to it. After you see a full picture of one of my paintings, please zoom in as far as your computer will allow because the details offer an entirely different perspective. What motivates me to want to paint every day is the unknown, the unexpected; where my painting might digress, and/or the addition of other materials in my paintings.

My fine arts background includes gallery, museum, and auction house work both in San Francisco where I grew up, and in Dallas, Texas and where I have called home for many years, and where my three sons were raised. Although a devoted painter now, my previously earned degrees in the fine arts, as well as degrees earned in psychology and [Educational] Therapy, provide an occasional opportunity to offer art therapy among the menu choices available to my students and their families.