Rebecca Kinkead’s White Horse No. 5

After earning back-to-back degrees in education and fine arts, Natick native Rebecca Kinkead began painting seriously at age 30. She strives to imbue her canvases with “sculptural qualities,” frequently mixing ground-up bits of clay, wax, and chalk into her paint.

Kinkead’s preferred subjects are people and animals presented at their barest essence. She leaves people’s faces empty and ambiguous, allowing viewers to “feel something from their own history,” she says. Conversely, she draws animals’ faces in stark, yet exquisite detail. Kinkead often begins with the eyes—sketching and painting outward. “I like to look the horse, owl, or fox in the eyes while I’m working,” she says. “It feels like a collaboration that way—like they’re helping me.”

White Horse No. 5, oil and wax on linen, $15,400, rebeccakinkead.com.