| Rhonda was born in
Sydney in 1963 with a conventional upbringing and initially her
interests were more sports based. She specialized in 400 meter hurdles
and became NSW under eighteen champion and fifth in the Australian
Championships. Her interest in art developed whilst doing her HSC and
her work was chosen for the travelling exhibit of HSC works in 1981.
After a brief foray into a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in
Physical Geography, which quickly became apparent was not for her, she
was accepted into the Art Certificate course at East Sydney Tech. “I loved the Tech course, I finally had found something that really felt right, but I had to leave before the end of the course to look for full time employment as I was shortly to marry my husband John and we both had to work to purchase our block of land in Maianbar.” Rhonda spent the next ten years concentrating on building their house with John and once that was done they set off on a round-Australia trip for seven months. Once they returned the births of three children followed and the practical life of being a mother over took the wishes of an artist. Despite this Rhonda managed to produce a very detailed, large mural for the Maianbar playground. “I become very involved in each single project, researching in detail before I begin a painting and I don’t like to be disturbed whilst I work because I can only think of one thing at a time. I like things to be sharp edged and everything in my paintings is carefully planned and is placed there for a reason, because of this each work takes a long time to complete. I recently completed another large mural in Bundeena which I really enjoyed doing and I hope as the children grow-up to do more of this type of work.” |
|
Drawing Study of
Michelangelo's figure 'Night'
pencil on paper
20cm x 10cm
Fairy Garden (detail)
mural at Bundeena School
100cm X 300cm
Tropical Fish
paper mache
each approx. 20cm x 10cm
Images in portrait banner
details from: Meeting Place
mural at Maianbar Hall
180cm x 480cm