HEADQUARTERED IN NORTH JERSEY’S VERDANT LAKE REGION, AN AWARD-WINNING ARTIST CELEBRATES NATURE, ITS EXOTIC WILDLIFE, AND “THE RESPECT ALL LIVING CREATURES DESERVE”

BY LAURA D.C. KOLNOSKI • PHOTOS BY ROBERT NUZZIE

Linda Rossin calls her paintings “a celebration of life… momentary journeys filled with nature’s richness, beauty, and dignity that provide a temporary shelter from our otherwise fast-paced world.”

The award-winning artist, whose studio once belonged to the Ringling Bros. of circus fame, has been painting birds and mammals in both large and diminutive scale since 1988 her work displayed in galleries, exhibitions, and museums across the United States and around the world.

Rossin’s inspirations can be as close as the natural beauty surrounding her Lake Hopatcong home or as distant as African safaris, with resulting renown that has even caught the attention of the White House. She was asked by the American Egg Board to create the First Lady Commemorative Egg in 2014 after her artistic egg representing New Jersey impressed the organization.
“I was astounded,” Rossin said. “They felt my state egg was not only outstanding, but remains one of their favorites. The same holds true for the First Lady Egg. I have been asked to replicate it as a promotional piece.”

Upon completion, the creation was hand carried to Washington, D.C. and presented to Michelle Obama as a gift from Rossin on behalf of the American Egg Board. And yes, it was a real egg (see it on her website).

The Ohio native lived for a time in New York City, where she worked in the art department at Mademoiselle magazine before moving to Lake Hopatcong. Largely self-taught, she attended the Cleveland Institute of Art for a year before dropping out. “By the time I got to college, abstract art and cubism were the rage, which didn’t interest me,” she recalled. “As a child, I was always drawing. With my visits to the Cleveland Zoo, more of my art became about animals. Because I couldn’t take them home, I drew them instead. Museums are my teachers. I intensely study old master’s works and how they manipulated light, used color, and handled their brushes.”
The times also influenced Rossin’s career trajectory. Trying to make a living as a female artist in Ohio the 1960s seemed fated for failure, she related, so she turned to advertising a combination of art and business.

“I started working as an accessory artist for Higbee’s, the department store in the film A Christmas Story,” she laughed. “ at Santa on the snowy hill in the movie really existed!” A trip to Kenya with the Audubon Society inspired a second career painting wildlife full time, one that has spanned more than 30 years.

“Having the ability to draw and create whatever I wanted was euphoric; it’s still that way today,” said Rossin, who has been a Signature Member of the Society of Animal Artists since 2002. In 2008 when the stock market crashed, she turned to miniatures, which remain her “bread and butter,” and she is a Signature Member of Miniature Artists of America. Other affiliations include Artists for Conservation, Cider Painters of America, and the World Federation of Miniaturists.

Rossin’s larger paintings reflect Garden State nature and landscapes. Her works have appeared in a variety of art books, and she has been recognized with Medals of Excellence, Best of Show, and First Place honors. Donated works have also been auctioned to benefit the Woodlands Wildlife Refuge.

“When I sit down at the easel, I travel to another world,” she reflected. “Painting becomes my mantra.” A “one woman show,” Rossin works up to 14 hours daily as a painter, writer, framer, shipper, teacher, advertising and public relations specialist, as well as “the cleanup crew, which has been on strike for a while,” she joked. “But I truly love being in my studio.”