Painting and gardening.  These are her passions.

 

"Poppies, peonies, roses, anemones, I love all the flowers in my garden," she said.

 

Her floral and still life paintings that capture the light and captivate with their singular luminosity cannot be imitated.  No wonder she was selected by the Bainbridge Island Library to paint the watercolor, Wildflower Bouquet, in memory of Virginia Mudge in 1986 and Nasturtiums, in memory of Ida Thatcher, in 1994.

 

A kindred gardener, Virginia Mudge was the Bainbridge branch librarian from 1961 to 1982, dating back to the library's location at Rolling Bay.  "She loved springtime and she loved my work," said Rosalyn.

 

Ida Thatcher, early Island first-grade teacher, was a faithful volunteer at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery for many years.  Come summer, every Friday she brought in a round bowl of nasturtiums for the desktop.

 

Growing up in England just a few miles from Stonehenge, Rosalyn Gale Powell remembers how she set off at dawn in the fantasy countryside of thatched roofs and medieval bridges to pick the first violets with her mother.  She can't remember when she didn't know the names of flowers, shrubs, and birds.

 

In her painting, in her gardening, she claimed, "I'm always seeking for perfection and failing to find it."  But then she adds with a chuckle, "Gardeners tend to live a long time because they never get it right."

 

 

"Wildflower Bouquet" (1986)                                          "Nasturtiums" (1994)

"Unknown title" (1987)

 

Rosalyn Gale Powell passed away in 2007.  To read her obituary, click here.  A book featuring pictures of Rosalyn's works can be found in the Bainbridge Public Library collection.