Rosemary Sylvanus Antel was born in 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She spent her early years roaming the woods of the western Pennsylvania Appalachians, where she gained an appreciation for the rocks, trees, waters, plants and animals and their places in the web of life. Her mother had studied art in college and supplied Ms. Antel with high quality supplies and materials with which to sketch and paint at an early age. Her mother encouraged her and arranged early art instruction for her, but like many practical men, her father, a chemist, wanted her to have life skills that would insure an income.

Torn between her love of art, and her wish to be able to earn her living, she studied both art and chemistry. She specialized in environmental chemistry, which allowed a continuation of her close connection with nature. The career as a chemist allowed the luxury of more years of study as an artist. It was not long before she produced and sold paintings at the same time she protected the environment. She found that a knowledge of chemistry came in handy as an artist and that the creativity of the art helped with problem solving in chemistry. In 1999 she began devoting all her time to painting.

Ms. Antel works in egg tempera, other water media and oil. Her work has won awards and been included in many group shows at museums and cultural centers, including the Bellevue Art Museum, the Alaska State Museum, the Anchorage Historical and Fine Art Museum, the University of Alaska, the University of Washington, Coos Art Museum and the Nordic Heritage Museum. She has had one person shows in Alaska and Washington and her work is included in many private collections in the United States and Europe.

She works primarily from life, painting and sketching landscapes on location or painting flowers from her garden which she brings into her studio. She travels with sketch book, paint kit and camera to capture the scenes. Like all artists, she dips her brush into her own soul and paints her spirit into her pictures.