Australian Guild of Realist Artist Galleries. Camberwell VIC.  President Raymond Kenyon  “The Summer was quickly followed by a private exhibition by Rhonda Armistead, a member hailing from Lismore, North-East NSW. She and her husband Derek, drove her exquisite bird paintings to Melbourne, opened the show and went back to Lismore. Being busy people – painting, taking classes and workshops and running the picture framing business – they were unable to stay any longer. But it was a successful exhibition with six paintings sold, two to a New Zealand buyer. Rhonda had been posting progress photos on Instagram during the preparation of the show and developed quite a following. Many of the attendees at the opening were new to her and new to AGRA. A special thanks to Rhonda, first of all for introducing those people to our Gallery, they know where we are now, and for introducing us to this valuable technique of pre-promotion.”

From the Front Desk of AGRA
On opening the Gallery after the Summer Holidays, we enjoyed the beautiful Summer Seasonal Exhibition; very small but the calibre of the works was of a high standard. The winner was Regina Hona’s “Angel in the room”, 2nd was Annee Kelly’s “Ballarat Station” and 3rd was the delightful portrait by Vivi Palegeorge of “My Ted”.   The next event was a private exhibition by a new interstate AGRA member, Rhonda Armistead, with a solo exhibition in the Straub Gallery.
Rhonda contacted us about having her exhibition with AGRA around the time I started working in the office. Her planned project was to have an exhibition of bird paintings from pictures donated by the Members of “Birds of Oz”.
Rhonda reached out to the members on Facebook “Birds of Oz” and requested photographs of species threatened by extinction in Northern New South Wales.
Rhonda received positive responses from many photographers and all gave her permission to use their photo images of beautiful birds.
I was so inspired by her project and felt so grateful to be part of this. She had set a goal to paint 20 birds in 6-7 months. It was so nice to learn of her progress each month. I found Rhonda injected a positive and creative energy into the office during those months.
Finally Rhonda and her husband drove 1,605 km in 16 hours and 44 mins with 20 beautiful paintings to our gallery!
Rhonda’s exhibition was successful. Among the many paintings sales we also sold two paintings to a NZ buyer and one painting to an interstate buyer.
It was wonderful journey for AGRA to have Rhonda’s project and as the Administrator for AGRA, I developed a strong relationship with Rhonda with the organising and setting up of the exhibition.
The exhibition now finished, however I cannot wait for another similar project to start.

Akiko Stewart

Reikibee   “Really enjoyed watching this amazing lady.. thanks for being on Colour in Your Life and sharing your beautiful gift…”

Julie Williams New Zealand.   “Oh My God!!!!! I have seen all of these through instagram but by golly this was an amazing slideshow….will these be for sale or are they already spoken for? i particularly loved the rainbow bee eater….the colours are just so …well words fail me….and i seem to have a predilection for the pretty feminine wrens and finches too. You rock my socks as always Rhonda. All the best Julie (New Zealand)

Beth Ellis.  Fairfield California USA  ” I always think your paintings are beautiful photos. You are so talented!”

Jarryd Wilson, Lismore NSW –  I’ve asked Rhonda to do two paintings for me now. 1 of my best friends wedding and another in memory of my late dog. Both times Rhonda has shown immense skill and eye for detail. Her work looks alive on the canvas and I couldn’t recommend her enough. She has created joy and eased alot of heart ache. Cant thank her enough.