Carolyn Choi

September 25, 2025
Susan Brubaker Knapp
Blog, Painting

Painting – Carrboro

This is one in a series of posts about artists in the Orange County Artists Guild.

What is your medium? Why do you love it?

I paint with acrylics and love its versatility. Unlike oils, it dries quickly and is great for painting ‘alla prima’ or all at once, as the Italians say. One can use acrylics to produce paintings that look like oils as well.

Describe your process or technique.

I’m an intuitive artist and my process is to paint from my imagination or inspiration. Acrylics are very versatile and I often use them to create thick impasto paintings. I sometimes thin them with water or a matte medium to produce watercolor-like art.

Do you have formal training in your medium? Or are you self taught?

I’m self taught. As a mother of three, I held a desk job until my children were grown. I painted in my spare time but mainly gifted my art to friends and family. One of the paintings I gave my daughter was hung in her flower shop and a frequent client fell in love with it and offered to buy it. My daughter said it was a gift from her mother and wasn’t for sale but the client persisted, offering a large sum of money. My daughter finally caved in and sold it. I decided then and there that if a total stranger loved my art that much I should get serious and devote my time to it.

My first exhibition, in Chicago, was at a woman-owned gallery and it was very successful, I’m pleased to say. To support my art endeavor I left my day job and established my own garden design business. I’ve been installing and designing gardens ever since.

Moving from Chicago to Carrboro was a new chapter in my life and career. With all the challenges of gardening in central North Carolina I had to learn a new botany. I also discovered the active and very supportive Orange County Artists Guild and joined in 2018. I have so enjoyed opening my studio each year to the public and meeting the many art lovers who have been very supportive of my work.

What are the main subjects in your artwork?

As an avid gardener I’m very much influenced by nature and it is a main subject in my artwork. I also like featuring people in some of my paintings. I grew up on a farm in the countryside of rural Northern Alabama. Surrounded by fields and forests, Mother Nature was our playground and major influence. My teacher recognized my artistic talents and gave me a large box of crayons as a gift and they opened up a whole new world for me. I used the crayons to create large colorful drawings to decorate our humble cottage.

Tell us about your work space or studio.

When we moved from a large century old home in Chicago to our small Carrboro cottage we added a guest room for our family and friends when they visit. As luck would have it most of our immediate family moved here and we no longer needed the guest room. I am fortunate to have this spacious room for my studio. The path to my studio is through my backyard garden. Rarely does a visitor make it to the studio without being impressed by my backyard paradise and I frequently have to give them a guided tour. I often also divide some of my perennials and pass them and seeds out as well. My favorite quote is from one of the world’s most beloved artist, Monet: “If I hadn’t been a gardener first, I might never have been an artist.”

Who is your favorite artist, and why?

This is a difficult question to answer as there are SO many great artists that I love and admire. I’m a big fan of the Nabis school and I love the artist Pierre Bonnard. As an artist he never sought fame or fortune but moved to the French countryside and painted as he pleased. He painted from life, and his use of color and imagination, in my opinion, is unmatched.