crayons watercolor, colored pencils; 16×12″

“My grandmother had many rose bushes in her gardens. As a child, when fear and anxiety took over my feelings, I would retreat to the rose gardens where I had carved out small places that I could fit into, for peace, safety, solitude and quiet drawing. I feared the thorns less than I feared people.”

ARTIST BIO: Born in Jamaica, NY in 1953, Stacey Torres is an African American artist living in Ohio. Inspired by her Caribbean roots, she paints female portraits and exotic landscapes in her Folk/Fauvism style. Her work has been exhibited and curated throughout the United States and abroad and licensed for various television shows. In 2016, she was named one of 29 Hoosier Women Artists by the Indiana Lt. Governor and the Indiana State Treasurer.