An artist her entire life, Patricia painted realistically in pastel for many years. Ten years ago with the onset of glaucoma and vision loss, she decided to shift her focus to abstract expressionism by taking courses on technique, method and different types of media. With practice and by trial and error she began to work exclusively on birch or maple wood boards, creating her own style. Currently she uses cradle boards that are custom made and a mixed media approach in her work.
By applying layers of heavy body acrylic paint, Patricia then sands through the layers to create a patterning effect along with depth. Patricia uses many different weights of sandpaper, steel wool and knives to etch into the board. Most of her line work is done using a sharp implement. Since she works intuitively and not from photos, she allows each piece to evolve on its own. Picking and choosing areas to pull forward or push back she also incorporates oil pastel, vine charcoal, pencil and watercolor crayons into her work to create a multilevel perspective.