About the Artist: Patricia Michaud Towery
It is Patricia's exuberant approach to nature in its myriad forms that provide her with an endless supply of subject matter for multimedia works in Watercolor and Handmade Paper. Her preferences run the gamut from delicately painted florals to exotic contemporary abstracts incorporating hidden garden forms to intricately crafted still lifes as well as unique renderings of Koi who live next to her studio.
A supreme colorist, Patricia's work also combine playful orchestrations of form and shape inviting the viewer to visually participate in the chameleon-like nature of handmade paper, watercolor and mixed media pieces.
A New Englander by birth and heritage, Patricia's early years were spent at the family homestead in rural Massachusetts during the summer tending gardens and animals while finding time to paint or draw what she saw.
Winters were spent in studies at the Museum School and New England School of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts.
"It was during those early years while visiting the Museum of Fine Art that I had the opportunity to study the Post-Impressionists, Dutch still lifes and Eastern art forms which continue to influence my work today", relates the artist. She cites Cezanne, Willem Kalf, O'Keefe and Hokusai as inspiration for her work today.
Patricia has lived in northern California since 1981. She completed a Masters degree in Painting/Handmade Paper with teaching credentials at San Jose State University and graduate work at San Francisco State University in Special Education.
The best of two worlds exist at Patricia's Wind Dancer Studio where an Eastern style garden and a Koi pond provides a view of seasonal cycles. "Each day's journey to the studio is filed with infinite surprises. The Koi poke brightly colored noses out of their pond in anticipation of dinner at 5 ... leftovers at 5:05 and the garden may reveal new flowers unfolding."