Artworks features works of Rose Cope

||| FROM B.J. ARNOLD for ORCAS ARTWORKS|||

From the reflective surroundings of Orcas Island, artist Rose Cope has cultivated a unique and deeply personal artistic practice that explores the intersection of memory, textiles, and color.

Raised in an environment shaped by her family’s contemporary Japanese art gallery, Rose was introduced to creativity at a young age. While her early artistic journey began with painting, her path took a detour over the course of more than a decade, during which she embraced motherhood, fiber arts, retail design, and business ownership. It was through these diverse experiences that she honed a deeper understanding of herself and her art, ultimately returning to her painting practice with a renewed passion and commitment.

“My work is about memory and sensation,” says Rose. “I want to evoke that feeling you get when recalling a dream or a fleeting memory, something familiar, but not quite tangible. It’s a balance between resonance and elusiveness, and I find poetry in that ambiguity.”

Drawing from these elements, Roses’s paintings are a meditation on color, light, and texture. She works primarily with oil paints, using a method that involves layering and patience. “I begin with a loose wash of color and then tape off sections, painting each strip individually. Most of the image is hidden and revealed slowly. I love it when an unexpected color combination surprises me—it keeps the process alive,” she explains.

Rose creates her art from her home studio on Orcas Island, Washington, where she resides with her four children and three cats. The serene landscape of Orcas Island, with its natural beauty and peaceful atmosphere, is a perfect setting for the artist’s reflective and layered approach to painting.

Her current body of work continues to explore the intimate relationships between color, texture, and memory. “I want to create work that feels both personal and universal, that invites the viewer into a space where they can find something familiar, yet open to interpretation,” she shares.