War Memorial comes to life with oil painting
Wanting to present paintings that are smaller and less expensive, Rose Rhodes will soon be offering her artwork of The War Memorial.
On a late July afternoon, Rhodes set up her oil painting stand in front of The War Memorial. Rhodes, of Wolverine Lake, decided to put the historic building into painting upon the request of Sherry Allor from Posterity Gallery in Grosse Pointe.
“It’s called plein-air painting, which means you are painting in the open air,” she said. “The difference between that and studio work is that the light is the most important thing. It’s very much in the moment, you are painting in the light that exists at that moment.”
The 16-by-20 inch oil on linen painting is titled “Sunny Afternoon at the War Memorial.”
Due to changing light conditions, Rhodes can only paint for two to three hours, then has to stop. She commented that shadows and light change, leaving her to quickly work.
In times when Rhodes can’t complete the painting in one setting, she will either take a picture of the subject, in this case The War Memorial, and finish at home, or return to the site for a second session.
Her plan is to make prints of the painting, as well as coasters.
“I have a lot of my artwork at Posterity and Sherry’s granddaughter is going to be married there, so she wanted me to do a painting,” Rhodes said. “I’ve started making some of my paintings into coasters which have been very popular because they are inexpensive.”
Rhodes has been painting since her days at Grosse Pointe South High School. She went in the art direction, attending art school at the University of Michigan and taking classes at the Center for Creative Studies. She later went into fine arts, operating her own art studio, Art With Rose, on Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe for 14 years, along with Betty Prudden and Julie Strable.
“I love children and teaching the kids,” she said. “I taught students of all ages.”
Elaborating on turning the paintings into coasters, Rhodes noted that coasters make nice gifts for people who have moved away from the Grosse Pointe’s, serving as a nice memory.
“It’s connected me with a lot of people who have moved away and miss Grosse Pointe,” she said.
Growing up in Grosse Pointe Park and later living there for over 20 years before moving to Wolverine Lake, Rhodes said she used to go to The War Memorial when it had war dances and Battle of the Bands.
“I took ballet lessons there when I was little, my senior prom was there and my daughter, Natalie, had her wedding there six years ago,” she said.
A stone is dedicated to Rhodes’ father, Joe Palazzolo, in the Veterans Memorial Garden.
Her artwork appears at places like Posterity, Great Frame Up, Kayrod Gallery, Detroit Artist Market and The Art Of Custom Framing.
Alex Szwarc
Communications manager
313.881.7514
aszwarc@warmemorial.org