Student success stories

Nelly le Comte  ·  Australia  ·  @nellylecomte.art

“Selling two artworks last month has given me the confidence to work towards being a full time artist.”

She sold two paintings last month.

Nelly le Comte is a photographer in Australia. Painting was the thing she kept beside her real work.

Then she started treating it as the work. She set aside time for it. She took it seriously.

She is honest about what is still hard. She starts with good colour mixing, and then cannot resist wasting paint, and ends up muddying the colours. She knows it, and she is changing it.

What she wants next is simple. Paint more. Grow the business. And an exhibition.

Pat Bereskin  ·  Gallery owner and art teacher  ·  Iowa

“I decided to give myself permission to make this my year of growth.”

A career art teacher entered a competition against other art teachers, and won it.

Pat Bereskin has taught art her whole working life, and she runs a gallery in Iowa. She did not need a beginner’s course. She joined because of the work.

“I tell my students who are looking at college art programmes: look at your potential instructor’s work. By looking at the work of the teacher you quietly experience the level of craftsmanship that should cause your inner voice to say — this is the one, this person has something I desire to learn.”

Since then: a first place award, competing against area art teachers. Her painting “Katie” accepted into an invitational. A second exhibition in Italy. And she now teaches the skin tone and hair method to her own students.

Sabine Ronge  ·  Maui, Hawaii

“I have entered many times, and finally got a piece in.”

She started painting in 2019. This year her work was accepted into a juried exhibition.

Sabine Ronge spent thirty years in another profession before she picked up a brush. She had seen the paintings before she found the school.

“The first time I saw one of Rosso’s paintings, I felt like that is exactly what I am trying to do, but not knowing how.”

What changed was one mechanical thing. Stacking brush strokes next to each other to build a three dimensional structure of the face. Then the likeness came. “I started seeing better. My ability to create a likeness has grown leaps.”

Then the exhibition. One of her paintings was accepted into the annual juried show at the Hui Noʻeau.

Fritz Fostner  ·  Germany

“From the moment I joined the school everything changed for me.”

Commissions, sales, and now galleries.

Fritz Fostner paints in Germany. His account of what happened is short, and it does not hedge.

“Since learning with Rosso, my work has completely transformed. I am painting more than ever, receiving commissions, selling work, and even seeking gallery representation.”

He began where everyone begins.

Malia Vrooman  ·  40 years painting

“I believe I can do it now, after decades of hiding behind a commercial artist’s career.”

Forty years of painting, hidden behind a commercial career.

Malia Vrooman worked as a commercial artist. Her own painting stayed behind that work. Portraits intimidated her for a lifetime.

“I find realism often stiff, but Rosso has captured a movement and energy that is inviting.”

What she expected to matter was not what mattered. “The obvious answer would be the experimental backgrounds, but the colour palette and mixing lessons have a more lasting effect.”

She started posting her work again. The portrait commissions followed.

Dicsöfi Adrienn

“I don’t want to become much better overnight, because the journey itself brings me a lot of joy.”

She stopped starting, and began planning.

Adrienn’s change is not in her hands. It is in what happens before she picks up a brush.

“What has really started to develop is probably my imagination. I look for references with different eyes now and try to plan my paintings in advance. I no longer just start painting and let the image evolve as I go. Instead I have an idea, a concept in my mind, that I consciously try to bring to life.”

She is still working on proportion and likeness, and she is in no rush at all.

Kassie Pen  ·  New York

“It is giving me more confidence to approach larger, full bodied subjects.”

She came for portraits, and ended up painting whole figures.

Kassie Pen has painted for ten years in New York. Her problem was never the face. “I struggled with full body, human form and the proportions.”

The lesson that moved her was about structure, not anatomy. “The biggest takeaway was learning to capture the shadows and values first, to create the form.”

Then the same thinking carried down the body. “I saw a genuine improvement in my plane shifts — being able to capture the angles and shifts of the body form.”

Paula Michele Wagoner  ·  United States

“Rosso’s mentoring reignited my passion and gave me purpose again.”

She thought her painting days were behind her.

Paula went to art school. Then came motherhood, and the painting stopped. For years she assumed that was the end of it.

“After art school and motherhood, I thought my painting days were behind me.”

She is exhibiting now. She is approaching galleries. And she is selling her work.

Nada Kharma  ·  Chicago

“My biggest aha moment was understanding how to use warm and cool tones.”

Warm and cool, and the work steadied.

Nada came in not knowing her own style. She named the problem plainly: knowing my voice, my style, and understanding colour theory.

Then one idea landed, and it was not a complicated one.

“My work has become more structured and confident. I understand techniques better, and I pay more attention to details.”