About Me.

I was fortunate to have found a career that I loved, teaching.  After spending 34 years teaching internationally, (Virgin Islands, Iran, Jordan, Norway, Scotland, Jamaica, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates) retirement left me with time to devote to my second passion, art.  While teaching, I did find limited time to paint, I identified as ‘a weekend artist’ but upon retirement to Knysna, South Africa, I was introduced to a local group of artists who welcomed me into their fold.  I now have time to devote to painting; developing my style which evolved from acrylics, to a brief foray into oils, from landscapes to animals.  It all started when I looked through my extensive photo collection of animal photographs taken on various safaris with my husband, Andrew and decided to paint my first animal and found they are so much more fun to paint. We have driven on long adventures into Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and extensively through South Africa.  It is a great excuse to combine my love for travel with my love of painting.

Many of you may know me as Mary Ross of Minocqua, Wisconsin.  It is where I grew up and married my high school sweetheart, Mike Ross.  I was widowed in 1995.  I met Andrew in Dubai and am now in my second chapter of life.  I never expected to find love again but I have been blessed.  We have five children between us, located in the USA, (one son who also teaches overseas so his location changes), Wales, and two in Australia.  Plenty of opportunities to travel to see family. This year has been challenging with travel restrictions due to Covid but it has given me more time to paint.

I have attended workshops in Dubai and South Africa presented by John Harris (UK artist), and with Dale and Mel Elliot in Knysna and Villiersdorp, South Africa, Derrick van Rensburg, also of South Africa.  Pat Al Fakri in Dubai tutored a group of weekend artists. I am grateful to all of them for sharing their expertise and guiding me through the different mediums until I recognized that watercolor is my favorite.

My Artwork.

My main goal is to capture the essence of the animals, showing their mood, impulses and emotions.  I love the grace and beauty of wildlife that hopefully will touch the hearts of those who see my art.  I strive for a creative perspective and unique style in my artwork.

I love to capture the animals in different poses and with different expressions.  Originally, when I painted a background, the focus was removed from the animals. I prefer the technical precision and signature use of white space to allow the viewer to see the animals more clearly and draw attentions to the eyes, the expression or composition of a group of animals interacting with each other.  I often crop my images into an informal yet composed painting which maximizes its impact.

My artwork is available as cards (A5, including an envelope and encased in a sealed plastic sleeve as protection), or A3 prints (printed on high quality watercolor paper so they appear close to original artwork, also in sealed plastic sleeves).  I do sell some original artwork, framed or unframed and they are generally 19 x 13 inches (48 x 32 cm) and will show available originals under LATEST NEWS page.