Concordia Calendar Artist Profile: Rosemary Romig

In 2019, Concordia’s calendar featured amazing resident artists – some who studied art in college and made a career out of it, some who won awards for their paintings and even those who always enjoyed art but didn’t truly get to paint until coming to Concordia. The good news is that the first group only scratched the surface of the talent found at Concordia. For 2020, our calendar features gorgeous paintings from 11 new artists.

Titled “Brush Strokes 2,” the calendar features a different painting each month by a resident who lives at one of our locations. And each month, we’ll introduce you to the artist, here. November’s artist is Rosemary Romig of Concordia of the South Hills.

Rosemary grew up in Sharpsburg, PA with five brothers, and it was partially due to their influence that she took an oil painting class years ago.

“A few of my brothers were good at painting, and I thought, ‘If they can do it, then I can do it too,’” Rosemary said. “I enjoyed it very much.”

She didn’t paint much after finishing the class, but she renewed her interest when she moved to Concordia of the South Hills and joined the art class on campus.

“I heard they had a good art teacher, so I decided to paint again,” she said. “The teacher eventually retired, so we’re looking for another.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the class, but luckily they are still able to meet in a safe way.

“There are three of us now, but we meet on Tuesdays and call it our ‘sketching class,’” Rosemary said. “We sit six feet apart and wear our masks, so that way we’re able to talk and have conversations with each other while we paint.”

The group only uses watercolor paint, and Rosemary prefers it to the oil paint she learned with.

“Watercolor is much easier to clean up – you don’t have to deal with any turpentine,” she said.

Her painting in Concordia’s 2020 calendar is a landscape with vivid colors, which she enjoys featuring in her work.

“The colors make me feel good,” Rosemary explained. “I like to just start my paintings with them and see what happens. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but once I get going on a piece it doesn’t take too long to finish it.”

Rosemary gives many of her finished paintings to her five children and eight grandchildren. She also has many of her pieces also hanging in her apartment, which she and her late husband Dick moved into in 2010.

“We visited a few different communities when we started looking for retirement living,” she said. “I liked the idea that Concordia of the South Hills had only around 200 people in retirement living, so that we could meet and really get to know everyone.”

After living at Concordia for 10 years, many of Rosemary’s neighbors are now close friends.

“Everyone was so friendly when I came in, and they still are,” she said. “They make you feel at home.”

To learn more about the retirement living options offered at the Concordia of the South Hills, visit www.Concordia-SouthHills.org or schedule a tour today. Call Director of Marketing Christie Wahlen at 412-278-1300 or message us through the contact form on our website. To request a free copy of the 2020 Concordia Calendar, “Brush Strokes 2,” call the Public Relations Department at 724-352-1571, ext. 8268.