About Marilyn
The Artist at age 5.
Marilyn Rose, resides in Northern New Jersey and is a signature member of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, the Northeast Watercolor Society, the New Jersey Watercolor Society, and the Garden State Watercolor Society. Her paintings have been juried into and have won numerous awards in state, national and international exhibitions and are in private and corporate collections across the U.S. and Canada. She has been selected to participate in prestigious plein air competitions including Paint Annapolis, Wayne (PA) Plein Air, and PleinAir Easton and her work has been featured in Plein Air Magazine. Marilyn teaches at the various locations, including her home studio (both in-person and virtually) and The Art School at the Old Church in Demarest, NJ. She runs a very popular plein air workshop each summer at the Landgrove Inn in Vermont. Selected for artist residencies in NYC’s Bryant Park and Arad, Israel, she is often called upon to demonstrate for arts organizations.
Marilyn earned her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis as a Fred Conway Fine Arts Fellow and came to NYC to begin her career in graphic design. After establishing herself as an art director in New York, she created her own graphic firm, Marilyn Rose Design, specializing in branding, logos, magazines and corporate brochures for clients throughout the New York Metropolitan area. After launching her three sons, she found time to reenter the world of fine arts and fell in love with watercolor. Her work is informed and inspired by her studies with such well-known watercolorists as Charles Reid, Mel Stabin, Jean Uhl Spicer, Antonio Masi, Paul Ching-Bor, and Tim Saternow.
While her paintings take the natural world around her as their subject matter, they document both an inner and outer journey. They are really about edges; the places where things meet: paint and paper, light and shadow, pigment and water, reality and abstraction. Marilyn’s work takes a traditional medium, and pushes its boundaries, with a boldness and exuberance, that she invites the viewer to share.
A Selection of Recent Awards:
New Jersey Watercolor Society
The Jill Crouch Memorial Award (2023)
The Contessa Bonardi Award (2021)
The Marge Chavooshian Memorial Award (2021)
The Sanders-Worob Memorial Award (2017)
The Kim Moonwater Morello Memorial Award, (2016)
Ridgewood Art Institute Annual Regional Juried Show
Jerry’s Artist Outlet Art Award (2023)
Golden Art Award (2020)
Copper Beach Foundation Award (2018)
Plein Air Easton
Juried Artist (2023)
Gloucester (VA) Festival of the Arts
Invited Plein Air Artist (2023)
Paint Annapolis
Nocturne, Third Place (2019)
Best of AAC Award (2018)
People’s Choice (2017)
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club
Amherst Meeker Memorial Award (2023)
Allied Artists of America Award (2022)
Mary Hill Memorial Award (2018)
Essex Watercolor
Awards of Excellence
(2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016)
Splash 18
International Watercolor Competition Runner Up (2017)
Northeast Watercolor Society
International Juried show, work accepted (2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014)
Golden Artist Award (2019)
Blick Art Materials Award (2008)
Garden State Watercolor Society
Signature Member Merit Award (2023)
Billsboro Winery/Smith Center for the Arts
Juried Plein Air Festival
Grand Prize (2012)
Vermont Juried Plein Air Festival
Quick Draw, 2nd Place (2012)
What People Are Saying
“I didn’t realize how much I missed your well thought out and very informative [live]classes. The ZOOM presentation is fantastic and although I miss seeing everyone, the ZOOM sessions have a lot of positive aspects.
Your demonstrations are so clear, and I appreciate that you show us your process, and describe it as you work (incuding your use of colors, techniques, etc. and indicating “why” you are doing something.”
— BARBARA H.
I so admire the energy and color, the spontaneity and dynamic compositions you create with brush and paint.
— MARIA P.
“Marilyn!!! You're a dream!!! Thank you so much for capturing so many special moments during our wedding - from the first look to dancing!! It was so special to leave that night with a unique book of memories! We've been pouring through the book since that day after brunch!!”
— KAITLIN T.
“We are so proud to have a Marilyn Rose original. It is absolutely breathtaking. The painting you did of our home was perfect!”
— PAULA D.
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