Making Peace

One of Thomas’ favorite pieces is the “Birds of Vero Beach.” He also enjoys more technical, geometric paintings as well as what he calls “rain” paintings with more free-form, dripped glazes.

On a Monday morning Thomas Rose, 57, learned his position of 27 years was going to be outsourced. By Friday the longtime property manager of Somerville High School had retired. It wasn’t long before he was on a plane from Massachusetts to Florida, planning a quiet reunion with his first love – art. “I thought I would just be painting alone in the garage until I was 90,” says Thomas with a laugh.

In the four years since he arrived in Vero Beach, his return to art has been anything but private. Thomas has exhibited for Dale Sorensen Real Estate, the Vero Beach Museum of Art, the Regina Stark Gallery and Forward America, which featured nine of his paintings in honor of the President’s election in 2012. Since then he has created two pieces for the Obamas; and last year he published his first book, The Art of Thomas Rose. 

The book features paintings alongside poems. With a second book in the works, the artist has found himself living his boyhood dream. “I used to skip school when I was a teenager and I’d hang out at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University,” he says. “I would stare at this Vincent van Gogh painting and I was like, ‘You know, when I get old, I want to do this.’ It’s just surreal that it’s come to fruition. I wake up sometimes and I look around and I go, ‘Oh my God.’”