Mixing It Up: Meet North Carolina Artist Rachel Kosbab

Painting, glass blowing, mixed media and photography - artist Rachel Kosbab believes in never hesitating when it comes to art. Growing up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Rachel had no shortage of scenic beauty to inspire her artistic tendencies. She learned to draw and paint by taking art classes galore, and enjoyed success at a young age, winning gold in various local and national competitions for drawing, painting and ceramics while still a teenager.

Abroad and back.

Rachel headed east to Philadelphia to earn her BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University, where she also studied graphic design and glass blowing. Through a study abroad program, she scored an internship with Italian contemporary artist Pietro Ruffo in Rome. Today Rachel lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she has her own graphic design business called Koz Creative. But she hasn’t stopped creating fine art, as we see in the acrylic paintings she shares with us here. We appreciate the way Rachel explores organic elements like bones and crustaceans, as well as the clean lines of geometric shapes.

Highlighting her work.

Rachel told us she’d never used metal frames for her paintings before she tried our canvas float frame M013 black aluminum floater frame. “I love how sleek and sharp this frame is,” says Rachel. “It creates a very polished look that highlights my work.” We’re happy to do all we can to showcase Rachel’s talent.

See more of her work.

To see her oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, mixed media and photography, visit her studio portfolio. If you’re interested in learning how Rachel finds new great ideas after a creative block and what she likes to do with bad ideas, keep reading. 

Now for Artie’s Eight with Rachel Kosbab…

1. What is your background; how did you get started?

I have always loved to draw and paint, ever since I was a little girl. I took absolutely all of the art classes I could up through high school, then got my BFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2015.

2. What role do you think the artist plays in society?

I think artists show how all kinds of ideas can be explored without heavy consequences.

3. What has been a formative experience or the best advice you’ve received within your career?

No good art comes from being hesitant. Be willing to give all of your bad ideas the opportunity to get out of your head and onto paper. After the pressure of making everything perfect is gone, the great ideas can really come out.

4. What ways does your work reflect your personality?

My personality comes through my work most strongly via my subject matter. I am an introvert so I rarely have interest in painting portraits or figures. I love the solitude and serenity of nature so most of my inspiration for paintings comes from the outdoors.

5. Creative blocks, do you get them? If so, how do you overcome them?

Definitely. When I get stuck and don’t know how to finish a painting, I turn it around and hide it for a week or so and work on other projects. When I come back to it, I usually have new great ideas.

6. What is your most indispensable tool? (Not counting the obvious, like paints, brushes, canvas, camera, etc.)

I love my extra long, metal straight edge!

7. Do you have a new project you are working on, or a new passionate idea?

I am developing a series of large paintings that magnify and honor natural objects I’ve found over the years.

8. What is your favorite paint color name?

Yellow Ochre.

All artwork and/or photographs used in this post are subject to copyright held by the featured artist.

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