Mary Rose O’Connell
Mary Rose O’Connell, a lifelong resident of New England, is a classically trained artist and teacher. She is primarily an oil painter with concentrations in portrait, still life, marine, and landscape painting. In addition to studio work, Mary Rose is an avid Plein air painter. As a workshop instructor, she has experience with all skill levels. In pursuit of her artistic training, Mary Rose had a decade of formal training in the Boston School Tradition. Mary Rose’s work shows the benefit of a strong grounding in draftsmanship and design. This style of painting is done in natural light and is influenced by the beautiful colors of the Impressionists. Mary Rose is a juried artist member of The Copley Society of Art, The Rockport Art Association and Museum, and The North Shore Arts Association. Additional affiliations include The Allied Artists of America, The American Impressionists Society, The Guild of Boston Artists, and the Lowell Art Association. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and has paintings in private, corporate, and public collections throughout the United States. In addition to these associations, she has exhibited with The Oil Painters of America, The National Arts Club, The Whistler House Museum of Art, Charles Fine Arts, and Francesca Anderson/Portraits North. Tuscany is located in central Italy and stretches from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its landscape, artistic heritage and stand-out cities – first among them Florence – make Tuscany an unquestioned protagonist of international tourism. In this region, nature has many different facets, starting from the coast that alternates long and sandy beaches, like the Versilia beach, with rocky cliffs and steep headlands. The islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation, a crystal-clear sea and rich seabeds, are peerless. You can admire sceneries of uncontaminated nature in the Apuan Alps and in several protected areas, such as the Orbetello Lagoon, home to many species of migrant birds, including pink egrets. However, the most typical sceneries of the region are those that merge the beauty of nature with the millenary work of man. The amazing Gulf of Baratti and the sites of Vetulonia, Vulci and Pitigliano guard necropoli and vestiges of the Etruscan civilization, while Roselle and Cosa evoke memories from the Roman Age. Medieval villages, historical towns, castles and defense systems, country churches (the so-called pievi) and beautiful abbeys, like the one of Sant’Antimo, are scattered all over the territory and their profiles stand out in the landscapes of the Crete Senesi, Orcia Valley, Garfagnana, Chianti and the Maremma. Finally, Tuscany is full of spas: Montecatini, Saturnia, Montepulciano, Monsummano and Bagno Vignoni, which offer relaxing holidays thanks to their thermal waters and well-equipped facilities for all types of treatments.
