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Canvassing Area's Natural Beauty

ROBERT BURKE / Tampa Tribune

Roxanne Tobaison has rooms filled with her artwork in her Seffner home. She will be in the Temple Terrace Community Arts Festival, Nov. 10 & 11 at Riverhills Park.

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By JOYCE McKENZIE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2007

TEMPLE TERRACE - Whenever Seffner resident Roxanne Tobaison thinks about Temple Terrace, she envisions a setting of white iris, spoonbills and great blue herons along the Hillsborough River shore.

It's a scene she's experienced firsthand many times in her more than 20 years as a participant in the annual Temple Terrace Community Arts Festival at Riverhills Park on the banks of the river.

A watercolor artist who describes her work as a reflection of "the life and beauty" of her surroundings, Tobaison has captured similar scenes in many of her paintings.

It's the type of image she chose to create when she learned she was among the five artists selected by the Temple Terrace Arts Council, the festival's host organization, to do a painting of her choice on a ceramic orange representing the history behind the name of Temple Terrace. Before being bought up by developers in the early 1920s, the community was touted as home to the largest concentration of Temple orange groves in the world.

Tobaison's painted orange she has titled "Birds of the River," a depiction of her view of what makes Temple Terrace unique, will be on display with those of the other four artists - Kimberly Erb of New Philadelphia, Ohio; Terry Smith of Land O' Lakes; Lynda Chandler of Temple Terrace; and Kathleen Michael of New Tampa - throughout the festival and sold to the highest bidders in a silent auction.

"I was delighted when they asked me to do this for the second year," said Tobaison, who last year submitted a ceramic orange she titled "Leapin' Lily," on which she painted a frog resting on a ceramic lily pad she glued to the bottom of the orange.

"Painting on a round surface is hard to do," she said. "The planning is the most time-consuming, but once you have that in order, it flows."

A self-taught artist, Tobaison didn't start painting until 1979, following the birth of the first of her two daughters.

In addition to creating wildlife and flowers, she likes to capture some of the area's historical and architectural landmarks in her artwork. Gasparilla, Bayshore Boulevard, the former Tampa Bay Hotel with its minarets on the University of Tampa campus, the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City and the Tampa Theatre are among them. They are also the kinds of paintings she will have on display and for sale at the festival.

Tobaison said that in recent years she has cut back on the number of art shows in which she participates because of the time and effort involved.

"But, the Temple Terrace one is so near and dear to my heart, I really want to be part of it," she said. "The organizers are so accommodating, and they really care about the artists. Also, because they have an area for crafts and an area for fine arts, it reaches everybody."

Tobaison has exhibited her works in galleries throughout the Tampa Bay area. She also has participated in juried events up and down the Florida coast and as far away as Arlington, Va.

Her paintings have been displayed in the office of then-state Sen. Tom Lee, and her limited-edition prints hung in the Governor's Film Commission offices in Tallahassee. She designed a Christmas card for the Henry B. Plant Museum at the University of Tampa, created the motif for the 2006 and 2007 Manatee Arts Festival T-shirts and devised the logo for the Apollo Beach Chamber of Commerce.

She has judged several art competitions, including those at the Florida State Fair, the Florida Fine Arts Guild Show and Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association.

Tobaison is a member the Florida Watercolor Society, the Suncoast Watercolor Society, Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association the Brandon League of Fine Arts, for which she is also a past president.

The longtime Florida resident has won numerous awards for her artwork, including the National League of American Pen Women Florida State Association Conference's 2007 Best of Show.

"That's pretty special, because it's a professional organization made up of artists, musicians and writers from all over Florida, and there were lots of submissions in all the categories," said Tobaison, a member of the Tampa branch. "I just thank God for the ability he has given me."

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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