{"id":257146,"date":"2026-01-29T05:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T05:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257146\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T05:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T05:49:12","slug":"rylee-hollis-uses-dreamy-watercolour-textures-to-paint-cowboy-dogs-and-punk-mohawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257146\/","title":{"rendered":"Rylee Hollis uses dreamy watercolour textures to paint cowboy dogs and punk mohawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rylee Hollis<\/a> enjoys being at the \u201cmercy of paint\u201d, especially watercolour paint. Well known for its unique texture and unpredictable nature, this Texas-born and Toronto-based illustrator somehow gets a leash on it, creating semi-airbrushed, dreamy and playful scenes between eccentric characters and luminous colours. Dense with subjects and textures, Rylee\u2019s compositions explode with action and motion \u2013 like in The Cartoon Saloon, anthropomorphic animal cowboys drink, play cards and draw their pistols in a beautiful gradient that captures a moment where the dusty saloon is lit up by the firing of a revolver.<\/p>\n

Watercolour paint \u201cdoes as it pleases\u201d, says Rylee \u2013 and her paintings do look as if her worlds are moving of their own volition. There\u2019s a wonderful sense of motion in these scenes, whether it\u2019s bouncing arcs of duplicated cards or crowds of people curling around a singer underneath a spotlight, each painting has its own gravitational pull. \u201cThe 90s and early 2000s internet webpages are oddly inspiring to me. These time capsules of the internet, with their clunky textures, fluorescent colours, and clumsily maximalist aesthetic, offer a particular charm and sweetness I really adore!\u201d says Rylee, demonstrating this in All My Little Drawings which take the form of 1×1 avatars and Even Though We\u2019re Miles Apart, A Computer Connects Our Hearts!, which appears like an exploded Windows screensaver.<\/p>\n

In the painting Smoke Break, Rylee depicts punk hairstyles from wolf cuts to mohawks, but instead of using a different paint or techniques to create hard angular edges, Rylee captures not so much the geometric attitude of punk fashion but the textural attitude. Not just depicting the candy floss spectrum of punk hair colours but also showing how light interacts with their hair, Rylee is always making the best use out of the dreamy quality of water-based paint. \u201c\u200bI don\u2019t like to get bogged down by too much preliminary sketching and planning. If I\u2019m too picky with the details, I lose the tenderness and gestural quality I\u2019d like my work to have,\u201d says Rylee. \u201cPerhaps my work can appear quite childish or silly, but I think holding on to and embracing these qualities is very important!\u201d<\/p>\n