Reynolds Duke

About Reynolds Duke

Still serving as the ROSA PONSELLE FOUNDATION'S president, she has since 2007 returned after a thirty year hiatus to her own personal desire to paint once again. Reviving her confidence and ability to paint , she entered the Baltimore studios of NANCY LINDEN and SONIA M. FRIEDMAN, while incorporating Plein Air works at the Baltimore Harbor and throughout Maryland.

While expanding her commitment to return to painting, Elayne has been invited to join several prominent Painting Societies which include the Oil Painters' of America; the Impressionists' Society of America; the Mid Atlantic Plein Air Painters of America Society, the Rehoboth Art League; and the Artist Equity of Philadelphia, Delaware and Maryland.

Because Elayne would like to establish recognition in the Art world ,which has an identity apart from her career in the opera world, she has adopted her legal family name of REYNOLDS DUKE to differentiate between her two lives. PONSELLE, who always hoped that Elayne would return to her painting, gave her the same words of encouragement that she imparted to many aspiring young vocal artists who came to her, after her retirement, to study and be launched in their careers,“ IF YOU HAVE AN INBORN, GOD- GIVEN TALENT, THEN YOU CANNOT KEEP OIL UNDER WATER - but always keep in your mind - NEVER STEP ONSTAGE BEFORE YOU ARE READY - AND THEN - DO NOT GO INTO THE CHORUS!”