Consumed for years by her duties as CEO of a small credit union, Patsy did not embark upon a career as an artist until November 9, 2001. A "bank" holiday, shut indoors by inclement weather, Patsy attempted a color pencil rendition of the howling wolf screensaver that frequently cycled up on her laptop. An artist was "born" that day.
A highly analytical person, Patsy`s approach to her art is that of solving a puzzle – finding the combination of colors and shapes, lines and strokes, form and composition, requisite to portray a truly lifelike animal portrait. Patsy has sought out zoos and wildlife parks in search of subjects. Much of her art to date features close-up vignettes of wildlife, realistically rendered in exhaustive detail. In her more recent photographic research, she has hiked into nature preserves and national parks where she can observe and record wildlife in their natural environments.
Patsy works primarily in color pencil and pastels, as well as graphite, finding that she can readily control these dry media to render highly detailed compositions. Numerous pieces have been rendered in color pencil and water soluble pastel on a Mylar surface, which is then mounted on to archival board. Most of the pieces are large, at least 16" x 20."
The self-taught artist has produced a small body of wildlife art over the last five years with an emerging personal style marked by strong, colorful yet infinitely detailed compositions. In addition to the wildlife pieces based on her own research photography, Patsy has completed a number of pet and human portraits commissioned from individuals who have viewed her wildlife work haning in various local venues.
With each new painting she completes, Patsy`s desire to pursue her artistic endeavors grows stronger. She spends every hour of time not required by her credit union responsibilities to develop herself as an artist. "After exploring art for a little over five years, I finally now consider myself an artist. I`m ready to journey beyond merely rendering animals," Patsy relates, "to portraying my subject wildlife in the environments which shape and determine their behaviors and survival."
Citing John Banovich, John Seerey-Lester,Simon Combes, Robert Bateman, Guy Coheleach, Carl Brenders, and Julie T. Chapman as artists whose work she most admires, Patsy asserts that "compelling wildlife art has the ability to evoke a response to the intelligence and unique animal behavioral characteristics of the subjects portrayed." To depict in a powerful visual way that sense of animal intelligence and how a creature`s environment informs its behavior is the objective Patsy now intends to pursue with each new piece of artwork.
Patsy muses, "I`m ready to explore the jungles of South America, the African savannahs, the Florida Everglades and the majestic mountain ranges of the western United States in search of material. I want to spend hour upon hours observing my subjects in their own, natural habitats, in order to increase and expand my knowledge of them as creatures. Hopefully, this more intimate understanding of my subjects will enable me to produce drawings and paintings capable of arresting the attention of viewers for a few moments, pieces capable of invoking in others the same degree of wonder and awe, of intrigue, these creatures of the wild –- these wild things -- hold for me."
Updated February 21, 2007
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