Out of the woods

Farming runs deep in Rita Prahl’s roots. Living and working on a Century farm in Sibley County, Minnesota, that has been in her husband’s family for six generations and growing up in a farming family herself, Rita embodies the values of the heartland: the land itself, family, hard work and simplicity. A self-taught artist, Rita has been working in watercolor, the luminosity and etherial quality of which cannot be matched by any other medium, for over a quarter of a century. Patience has been a key factor to Rita’s successes in life, whether raising her children, farming or painting; “You have to go slow to work fast”, she says, which is especially true when working with watercolor, which is infinitely more difficult to master than acrylics or oils due to its fickle nature. “I’m always surprised when I hear people question the value of watercolors due to their impermanence”, Rita says. “Watercolors go back to the earliest art, the cave paintings. They were used for Medieval illuminated manuscripts and gained prominence in the Renaissance, and examples of all of these survive to this day. In fact, one of the most famous paintings in the world, ‘Young Hare’ by the German painter Albrecht Durer, dates back to 1502.” A true champion of the watercolor medium, Rita draws inspiration from every day life and paints animals, flowers, people, still lives and nature. She exhibits her work locally and accepts commissions.