Where are you from, and how did you end up in eastern North Carolina?
I was born in Chicago, but grew up in South Carolina and lived in Georgia a bit. I was living in Raleigh since 2006, but moved to Kinston in 2023 to buy a house and to be closer to my parents.
Do you have formal training as an artist, or are you self-taught, or a combination of both?
I went to the Atlanta College of Art for Illustration, and have done other art classes here and there. I didn’t really start painting until the last 5 years, and have taken watercolor classes online. Most of my formal training was in pencil, pen and ink, and marker, so my journey to painting has felt more personal and self-driven.
Does your art have a central theme, or several themes?
I tend to go where the wind takes me, artistically, but I do lean more towards fantasy, animals, and portraiture, focusing a lot on themes of health and emotion. I really feel like I’m only just beginning to explore my art, thematically. So much of my art before I got into painting was geared towards comics or illustration so this has felt like a new journey.
Do you have a favorite medium, and why, or why not?
Gouache. Specifically the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese watercolors, which are technically considered watercolor but act like gouache. I’m absolutely obsessed. I was blessed by a friend who bought me the anniversary set as a surprise several years ago and it has taken over my art.
For the April exhibition, you’re presenting a series of self portraits with your pet rats. Where did this idea come from and why did you decide to do it?
I realized one day that I had an incredible amount of selfies and pictures of my rats in my phone, and started purposefully taking pictures of times I felt were important. My health has been a rocky road, especially in the last few years, and rats can be prone to a lot of health issues as well. They kinda live fast lives as rodents, and are prone to tumors and such from both breeding issues and having a crazy fast metabolism. The first painting in the series, “Recouperation,” was painted just because I really felt strongly about that photo and that moment, and after that the rest of the idea just came after I looked back at all my photos. I had been working on a series specifically about my health and I was struggling with that one, and I think I pivoted to the Rat Selfie Project because it felt both safer and more raw to portray that connection instead.
Who is another artist who work you admire or inspires you?
For the longest time my answer was all graphic novelists, and Mucha, but nowadays I am feeling more connected to Frida Kahlo for the rawness of her self portraiture.
What one piece, exhibition, or award are you particularly proud of, and why?
At the moment I’m most proud of the piece “Death Watch” from the Rat Selfie Project. It’s been one of the hardest paintings to work on, both technically and emotionally. And because the universe is cyclical, I had a rat on Death Watch during that painting.
What advice do you have for other artists just starting out, or people wanting to get into art?
Practice. Art is a skill, and a muscle you need to exercise. It can feel so hard to find your style or self in art, especially nowadays, but it’s a journey. And you are never too old to start, or start again.
In one sentence, what is art to you?
Art is the expression of the self in the reflection of the world, but made of paint or clay or music, etc.
I know you’ll be having an exhibition in the Director’s Gallery at Bank of the Arts for the month of April, but where else can people find your work?
I have a website at www.winterroseartandillustration.com and I am working on getting myself more out there in both physical and digital space.