Hi, I’m Patricia Bentham and I frame, with pen, ink and watercolour, some of what brings laughter, wonder, and beauty into an ordinary day.
I’m happy if I create art that expresses emotional impressions of my subject, that contains fluid ink lines and sparks of pure color. For better or worse, I generally create pictures without drawing with pencil first, to craft a more impromptu image with a touch of a pen.
I love to talk about creating energetic images, drawing with spontaneity, capturing beauty, celebrating moments, telling stories, being heart led and feeling deeply. It’s important for me to focus on finding a story and painting images that make me feel something and hopefully, make you feel something too.
My hope is, that by surrounding yourself with images that bring you enjoyment and inspiration, you’ll recognize and act on your own desire to be creative.
My Story
When I was a child, I was called Pat. Like the bull, Ferdinand, in Robert McCloskey’s classic book, my favorite place to be was high in the branches of our backyard apple tree, alone, observing the world around me (although Ferdinand was under the branches and I was amongst them).
In elementary school, a jumble of shapes, colors, and patterns in the classroom all clamoured for my attention, distracting me from the drone coming from the front of the room. Atlases full of cheerful maps, vibrant illustrations in old readers, and the weekly Friday art lesson helped me endure the days. Like many artists, doodling all over my notebooks helped me concentrate.
Now I go by Patricia, and yes, I am still incredibly distracted by color, line, shape, texture, light, and all those good things that make life interesting. I experiment with paint, creating blobs of color and varied lines, observing results. I like to discover and learn what does and does not create an interesting and energetic image.
A playful approach to making art keeps me curious and wondering, helps me to focus and concentrate, relieves stress and boredom, delights my soul, and motivates me to continue to create daily. It silences my inner critic because, what the heck, I’m just playing!
I’m retired from teaching now and love spending time exploring West coast beaches and parks and playing with my grandkids.
Other About Me Stuff…
After two years of fine art studies at the University of Victoria, I switched to a career in education. I received a Bachelor of Education degree specializing in Art Education and filled my course load with as many studio art and design courses as possible. Since then I’ve continued to hone my skills through books, workshops, classes and programs.
As well as teaching elementary school, and visual arts to all grades, for 20+ years, I’ve completed both web and print design certification programs, taught adult art courses and somehow filled over 65 sketchbooks with illustrated journalling and other art.
For regular updates of blog posts and tutorials, sign up for my email list.
