Roelof Stephen Rossouw was born in 1957 and grew up near Johannesburg. A painter of figures, cities and landscapes, street scenes, boats and harbours, architecture, parks and gardens, he works mainly in oils, but also in collage, acrylic and mixed medium.

He studied at the Johannesburg School of Art and obtained a National Diploma in Art and Design. After working at the Medical University of Southern Africa as graphic artist and medical illustrator, he started painting seriously in 1992.

Roelof has travelled widely and has visited Europe, the British Isles, the Middle East, USA, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Zanzibar and the Caribbean. This includes painting vacations in Italy, France, Ukraine and USA.

From 1988 to 2010 he has had a total of 34 solo exhibitions at top galleries in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Cheltenham (UK) and Montreal (Canada). Roelof was also part of a three-man exhibition at the Gatehouse Gallery, Glasgow in 1999. He did numerous group exhibitions in South Africa, London, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Jersey, Galway, Armagh (Northern Ireland), San Francisco and Miami.

His art is represented in many corporations, e.g. The Sage Group, Anglo Vaal, Mount Grace Hotel, Magaliesburg, The Woodburn Mann Art Collection, Rupert International, The Pretoria Art Museum, Clint Eastwood and many private collections in South Africa and throughout the world.

Roelof was awarded first prize in the Front Cover Competition for Eric Bolsmann's book on Pretoria.