Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhea Rose.
Hi Rhea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
As a child I was super creative. I was sewing, drawing, building, writing and performing plays, etc. Nonetheless I was determined to be a doctor. I graduated high school with a full scholarship to study medicine. At the same time I found out I was pregnant and I decided to be a stay-at-home mom instead.
After about a year of full-time motherhood I became restless and wanted to build something meaningful outside of my family as well as in. I started dabbling in fashion design with a local designer, then decided it didn’t feel natural enough. Friends began asking me to draw portraits for them as they saw me making crafts and paintings at home for my family. My then-husband suggested I become an artist. I fought the idea. The only artists I knew were my high school instructors who appeared to be hippies. In my mind it was not by any means a prestigious field like medicine or fashion design. But I became an artist anyway. In fact, I realized I had been an artist all along. I was always a little different from my peers and it finally all made sense.
I feel like my life and career are all by God’s design in spite of my own plans. He has been sending prolific artists and art dealers in my direction from the beginning. Over the years I learned to paint murals, teach art, face paint, airbrush, spray paint, illustrate and sell to art collectors. I learned first hand from all of the incredible people who crossed my path.
Currently, my focus is on developing programs to inspire youth to think outside of the box when it comes to their life plans and to use art as an outlet for all of their unbridled emotions. I give the gift of art to incarcerated youth in the detention system and marginalized youth through my monthly “Create in the Park” events.
My other main focus is traveling the world alongside my mentor artist Frank Frazier. I create inspirational paintings and take them from one show to another. I get to share my stories of inspiration and sell my art to collectors.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My road has been progressively more successful as the years pass. However, it was not easy. But most of the turbulence has been from a battle within. Selling art is 80% self-confidence and 20% talent. I started life extremely shy and critical of myself. Even when I decided to start my art business I was terrified to charge over $100. I did not think my creations were that valuable. On occasion I thought to myself that it would have been easier to be a doctor. There is a road map and guidelines. In art, you only have your creativity and confidence to rely on. I believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that God planned my life as an artist. He sent every opportunity and person my way to learn every skill that would catapult me to the next level. I am still amazed at the heights I have climbed with no roadmap.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a portrait artist. I fell in love with anatomy in preschool when I made exact copies of the anatomical figures in my parents’ medical encyclopedias. They were so concerned as to how I could render the male and female genitalia that they had me examined. Later they discovered where I’d seen the images.
I have been told that I depict the minority woman in such a way that she can be both strong and soft at the same time. You can feel their power and femininity through the canvas without even so much as a gaze.
Over the years I found my voice. My paintings tell the “beauty from ashes” experience I have had with each heart-break in life. My greatest lesson is that life happens to each of us regardless of how nice or moral we are. But we have the option to make lemonade from lemons.
I am most proud of the value I continue to develop. I can encourage people to be greater and rise above the ashes in their own lives. We are such beautiful and powerful creatures. I want everyone to be able to look around in their space and see an image that encourages them to live beyond limits.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I would like everyone to understand that their only limitations are in their own mind. Watch the words you speak, the things you think about and the environments you hang around. I was able to grow from a young girl who was insecure, depressed and full of anxiety to a strong and confident woman who is financially free to determine what her days look like and emotionally free to determine what her value looks like.
This is not a struggle for everyone. But if you are wishing for a life other than what you have, the power of your mind is infinite.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.phoenixartstudio.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoenix_art_studio_llc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixArtStudioLLC
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhea-rose-5388389
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@phoenixartstudiollc4701
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/phoenix-art-studio-round-rock-2
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixartstudiollc
