Photos
Patty’s Story
Growing up in the art colony of Laguna Beach CA, Patty unknowingly absorbed a love of painting, although she did not put brush to canvas until retiring from corporate life. She is particularly drawn to vibrant colors and to the beautiful patterns of light in the west and southwest.
Her work is inspired by photos from her widespread travels and by the areas she knows best—the beach and the desert. Using acrylics, she favors impressionistic landscapes, both brush and palette knife. After recently taking abstract, mixed media and collage workshops, she is enjoying these styles as well.
She has studied at the College of Dupage (IL), Dupage Art League, the Saddlebrooke Fine Arts Guild, and taken many artists’ workshops. Her work has been displayed with the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Southern Arizona Art Guild, Absolutely Art Gallery, the Wilhelm Vineyard Winery, DuPage Art League, the Saddlebrooke Fine Arts Guild, the Outlook in Oro Valley, and in private collections throughout the U.S. (=juried)
Patty lives in Tucson, AZ and frequents south Orange County beach towns...
The Tucson Gallery Asked Each Artist The Same Questions To Get To Know Them Better
Where did you grow up?
Born in Honolulu, I was lucky enough to grow up in Laguna Beach, CA. After Laguna schools, I attended University of California’s Santa Barbara and Berkeley campuses. I later had a career in telecom where I worked in locations around the U.S. I had no inkling of any creative talent.
Tell us about your family
I am an eldest child with 2 brothers. Growing up three blocks from the beach, it has always been my second home. As a teen I looked forward to “big surf”: I wanted to be out there with the boys v. on the shore with gal pals. Most family vacations were spent camping along the Colorado River, water skiing and spending hours in the river—a true Aquarius. I met my husband, Tom, while living in the Chicago ‘burbs; after retirement we moved to the Tucson area. Widowed several years ago, I am “alone again, naturally”, charting new paths.
When did you know that you would be an artist?
Art was a later in life pursuit for me. Living in Laguna Beach, a famed art community, I
was exposed to art in my youth. In college I loved my art/architecture history classes.
But the corporate world called. My employer offered the Myers-Briggs Personality test
which indicated I should have a career in an art/design field—I just laughed.
When I retired, I took an art class and have been taking them since. I recently came
across the those test results and now acknowledge it was spot on.
What is your favorite media to work with?
Well, I still dream of being a painter, but I love being out in nature and storms fascinate me as well as astrophotography. And I am always scouting and researching new dark sky areas to travel to.
What do you do when you’re not doing the voodoo that you do?
My husband and I enjoy 4 wheeling, camping, fishing , we also rode and trained Quarter Horses in Reining shows and trailed trained them for hunting and camping. And I love to garden and grow my own vegetables.