Rosemary is an artist living in Nunawading, Victoria, Australia, a suburb 20km east of Melbourne. She paints with oils, acrylics and watercolours, and draws with charcoal, conte and graphite.
Rosemary studied for her Diploma in Art (Advertising, Design & Illustration) at Swinburne College, Hawthorn, successfully completing in 1968. After working for a year in advertising, she was accepted into secondary teaching, studying part-time for her teaching qualifications. She taught at a number of State secondary and technical schools over the next few years, and also at Melbourne State College in the teacher training program.
Rosemary also spent some time studying printmaking at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and drawing at Prahran College of Advanced Education.
From 1983 to 1987 she was employed as a Youth Worker including teaching photography to unemployed young people. She also jointly designed and coordinated two community murals in the City of Whitehorse, supervising the artistic endeavours of her students, and personally carrying out much of the more complex painting.
Rosemary is committed to protection of the natural environment and has used her talents successfully in this area. She organised and curated the Mullum Mullum Magic Art Exhibition to help raise community awareness of the flora and fauna at risk from the proposed Eastlink freeway route along the Mullum Mullum Creek Valley through the Yarran Dheran bushland on the borders of the cities of Manningham, Maroondah and Whitehorse, eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. This and the efforts of other dedicated local environment groups convinced the State Government to construct a tunnel underneath the creek valley preserving the natural bushland for the community into the future. The annual Mullum Mullum Festival celebrates the flora and fauna of the area and recognises the significance of the site to the original indigenous owners of the land. Rosemary’s flora photography of the Valley has been a feature of past Festivals.
Rosemary has participated in many exhibitions and art competitions, winning many awards, including the Ringwood Arts Society “Artist of the Year, 2009.” She is a member of Ringwood Arts Society and Whitehorse Arts Association. For some years she has been the convenor for the Life Drawing workshops at Whitehorse Arts Association, organizing models and running the workshop.
When not drawing and painting, she can usually be found walking her dogs and attending to her garden. She currently has three dogs, Papillons Timmy and Effra and rescued terrier x Nerrie. The previous dogs pictured above gave much joy to the end of their days. Until September 2015 much of her time was taken up caring for her elderly horses agisted not far from home, living out their days on the 40 acre property on which they spent their whole lives.