Splash

Born and educated in Toronto RoseMarie’s studio is in Fenelon Falls where she has ready access to the wilderness and rural subjects, she finds so inspiring. RoseMarie expresses her Canadian heritage and concern for Canada’s unique and fragile ecology in paintings and drawings of people, landscape, flora, fauna, and architecture. Equally at home with oils, acrylics, watercolours, pen, and ink or conte chalks whether in her studio or painting en plein air RoseMarie expresses her affinity with flora, fauna, heritage buildings and the human form in drawings from life.

A lifelong professional fine artist, illustrator, and graphic designer RoseMarie studied the disciplines employed in the creation of fine and graphic art at Danforth Technical School with painter, Archibald ‘Dan’ Logan, illustrator Fred Savard, graphic designer Vince McGill and sculptor William Clements.

RoseMarie is currently working to bring a couple of children’s books she has written and illustrated to fruition. The illustrations and paintings are a labour of love, in some cases extremely demanding due to her fascination with costume design and attention to detail. RoseMarie’s work is featured in the recently published book ‘Artists of Kawartha’ as well Artists for Conservation’s annuals for 2022 and 2023. RoseMarie’s paintings are in private and corporate collections in Canada and abroad: Canadian Coast Guard, Vancouver Maritime Museum, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Kawartha Art Gallery and numerous private commissions.

Whether painting en plein air or in my studio my works focus on wilderness areas, flora, fauna, people, and rural settings. For decades I’ve explored Canada, the High Arctic and Greenland photographing and sketching in graphite, watercolours or oils. The incomprehensible vastness, fragility and beauty of the Arctic continue to inspire me.

In my studio I use sketches and the photos to refresh my visual memory.  I’m attracted by the fleeting light that drew me to that place and time. That ‘aha’ moment when a structure or the landscape is bathed in magic light. It’s also hard for me to resist rocks and rushing water. A lifelong gardener sometimes leads me to doing a little creative landscaping in my paintings and perhaps including a bird since I have been drawing and painting birds since grade school.

Drawing is the foundation of painting and so since high school I have sought the opportunity and challenge of drawing live models. When life drawing, I most often use sanguine Conte chalks a colour that has always resonated with me.

During my long career as an artist, I have sought to express myself through any available media and means from abstraction to realism and beyond. Whether painting a ‘serious’ work, creating a whimsical illustration for my stories or poems, or simply playing with paint to see what happens I enjoy the process above all because each new discovery enriches my creative process. These are all important and well-loved parts of my growth as an artist, and I also find great pleasure in sharing my discoveries in creating 2 and 3-dimensional art while teaching children and adults.