Realistic Impressions: The Art of Rosanne S. Wolfe, “Icons of Harrisburg” Winner

from Harrisburg Magazine August 2023

Clownin’ Around With The Barrelmen

This May, Harrisburg Magazine collected entries for our special “Icons of Harrisburg” Art Show. Searching for two-dimensional visual art pieces that exemplify the beauty of Harrisburg, our team of judges selected 30 top works for exhibition at our un-juried June show at The Smith Gallery & Fine Custom Framing in New Cumberland. The winning piece was to be featured on the cover of our August 2023 “Simply the Best” issue and reproduced on all the “Simply the Best” award plaques available to businesses voted as winners.

Of course, if you’re reading this article, you’ve probably already seen the winning piece on this issue’s cover – a beautiful landscape painting in watercolor and gouache, Harrisburg Capitol by Rosanne S. Wolfe. This lovinglydetailed, realistic piece showcases the beauty of the iconic Harrisburg Capitol balanced by a cheery effusion of white cherry blossoms. The original is currently at auction, with proceeds to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The auction doesn’t close until our 2023 “Simply the Best” Gala on August 31st, so there’s still time to place a bid for a shot at taking home this stunning view of the capitol.

“This one was really a very exciting piece to do, and quite an honor to be selected,” the artist, Wolfe, enthused. Wolfe has long been inspired by the beauty of the area, and often is inspired by the landscape and architecture while out driving. Born in the Susquehanna Valley, she’s lived around the area all her life. She first began to draw, she recalls, when she was about four or five.

Appreciating the skillful execution of her featured landscape, it might be surprising to find that Wolfe primarily works in still lives. When she first began making art, she was most interested in portraiture, but she had trouble finding models for her portraits. She began working on still lives initially as a temporary measure, but she found eventually that she enjoyed painting them even more than portraits. “It surrounds me,” she says, of the essence of still life. Part of her artistic process is tapping into the beauty in the everyday objects that are all around her. She is often inspired by objects that come from nature, or that hold a personal significance to her. “My mind is always working,” she confirms, to the point that it can be hard to disconnect from thinking about her art. Sometimes she’s even struck with inspiration late at night, or early in the morning, as a new approach or change for a piece she’s working on pops into her head.

Wolfe is known for her watercolors, which are so detailed and layered that they frequently get mistaken for oil paintings. “I’ve heard that comment a few times,” she says, referring to peoples’ confusion over the medium, “because I really try to get a realistic impression.” Rather than a loose, translucent effect that results from thinner washes of watercolor, Wolfe’s colors are often deep and bright. She describes her process as “like drawing with paint.” When asked why she prefers watercolor, she praised the medium for being particularly “accessible.” It’s cheaper and, in some ways, easier to work with and clean up. But beyond that, she remarks, “I’ve stuck with the medium because, over the years, I’ve learned how to work in it to suit my vision for my art.”

Although nature-focused watercolor and still lives may be her signature traditions, she is far from limited to them. Over the years, she’s taken various commissions for portraits – work that she describes as “fun” – of both humans and pets. If you look at her portfolio on her website, don’t be surprised if you spot a furry critter or two among the rest of her work!

And in the realm of her still lives, she sometimes finds inspiration in an unexpected theme: beer! Specifically, she has been painting beer caps, and sometimes bottles, for about a decade. “I just thought they were interesting, and I like the texture and the crimping, and some of the graphics,” she explains. This series of her work has led her to operate booths exhibiting and selling her pieces at local beer fests, including PA Flavor at the Farm Show Complex and BrewFest at Fort Hunter.

In fact, she frequently exhibits her works. In 2019, she began participating in outdoor art shows. Over Labor Day weekend, she’ll be participating in the Long’s Park Art Festival in Lancaster. And as far as gallery and other indoor venue exhibitions go, she’s been actively exhibiting since 2013, when, she says, she decided to finally “make a go of things” with promoting her art. Originally, she studied graphic design and other areas of commercial art at Millersville College and then the York Academy of Arts, and started a career in graphic design, working at a variety of advertising agencies. When she decided to start a family, she opted to switch to a more flexible freelancing schedule as she raised her daughter. Partly due to the competitive and rapidly advancing nature of the industry, though, she eventually fell out of graphic design and focused solely on her first love, creatively speaking - the fine arts. Since then, she and her work have earned several awards and distinctions, and she’s established herself as an active member of the local arts community. She has earned Signature Status in the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society and is a member of the Portrait Society of America, the Cecelia Beaux Forum, and the Philadelphia Watercolor Society.

Harrisburg Magazine is honored to feature this accomplished, multifaceted artist in this month’s issue and to proudly display her piece as our “Simply the Best” cover. Harrisburg Capitol, which Wolfe created after taking a spring walk around the Capitol Building and photographing it from various vantage points in search of a unique perspective, is a gorgeous example of the artist’s style. As The Smith Gallery’s recent article on this new piece observes, although Rosanne works in a realistic style, she leaves the edges of forms softened impressionistically to create a sense of openness. Her “muses,” she notes in the article, are light and color, which are certainly highlighted in this piece. From the bright blue sky to the vibrant green of the dome, she has captured the transient beauty of the scene in a work that is as pleasing to behold as the Capitol itself. Plus: the piece looks even better in person. There’s still time to view it at our