about artist
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About the Artist
Rosalyn O’Grady Beginning early in her school years Rosalyn was frequently asked to do the artwork for various
school projects. The first project she remembers was a frieze in colored chalk that depicted the
Garden of Eden. It was on the blackboard and was for Sister Mary Rose’s fourth grade parents-teachers
night. To this day, she remembers all the little animals and the modestly bush-clad Adam and Eve but
more importantly, she remembers the joy and pride she felt in doing it. All through her school years
she was involved in the arts and it was during these years that her love for painting took root but
she didn't seriously think of herself as becoming an artist. After school, she married and her family
grew fairly rapidly to four children. Even though her painting time was very limited for many years
there was always an urge to keep painting and learning. She always kept an easel up some place in
her house (usually a corner in the garage).
As her family grew so did Rosalyn’s determination to learn as much as possible the techniques of
painting. With the support of her family she received a degree in Fine Arts and attended many painting
seminars and workshops. During this time she taught painting classes for young children and discovered
that she could learn as much from them as they learned from her. She realized that young children
used color intuitively and they used color in a simple, direct manner that made their paintings exciting
to look at. They also had an excitement and joy of painting that Rosalyn will always remember.
Rosalyn truly believes that teaching children was one of her greatest learning experiences.
Because of her husband’s job, Rosalyn had an opportunity to live in various regions of the United States
and for two years in Munich, Germany. In the United States she lived in the Mohave Desert and in the
coastal area of Carmel, California. These two very different regions enabled her to understand to
some extent how different landscapes and atmospheres can affect color. To see the strong contrasts
of the cool and warm colors of the desert and the misty colors of the coast was a learning experience.
She painted with small groups of friends during this time and considered her painting still as no more
than an “intense hobby”.
It was in the museums in Munich and Paris that Rosalyn saw the paintings of the Masters and was
totally in awe of their great beauty. She spent many hours studying their paintings, trying to understand
how these great artists used the various elements of painting in their works, or in some cases,
didn't use them. More importantly, Rosalyn began to understand the passion these artists had for
painting and she became aware that painting for her was more than a hobby.
Rosalyn was influenced mostly by the paintings of Manet, Monet, Degas and Cassatt that
depicts scenes of people involved in their everyday activities, these subjects felt familiar to her
and she could in some way relate to them. Even though she enjoys painting all genre of subject
matter, it is this type of scene that excites her most. She paints primarily with acrylics and pastels.
Her favorite method of painting is “alla prima”.
Michael Roberts wrote in the Indy Leisure, a Pensacola, Florida newspaper, that Rosalyn’s paintings
have a “simple, unassuming strength that is hard to ignore”.
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