Last time I spoke to the painter Patris, it was May 2020, a few months into lockdown.
Her Oak Park studio was quiet. In-person classes were canceled and moved online. Patris used the downtime to return to basics and work on her already extensive drawing skills.
“In a way, it was a reset,” says Patris, born Patti Miller. “At that time, I was thinking about going into this next decade and asking myself, what do I really love and want to focus on?
“I tried my best to come in every day as if nothing had changed. I decided I wasn’t going to miss a beat, no pulling back and getting lazy. I had to fight for my vision, the dream I have for this studio and being an artist. I had to get back in the saddle.”
You’re working at Sacramento Theatre Company during tough times. Live theater audiences are declining. Budgets are tight. You wonder what the future holds.
The phone rings. It’s Stephanie J. Block, Tony Award-winning star of Broadway hits “Wicked,” “9 to 5,” “The Cher Show,” “Falsettos” and “Into the Woods.”
Divine Inspiration Painting is akin to prayer for Elk Grove priest By Jessica Laskey January 2024 Painting is not just painting for the Rev. Sylvester Kwiatkowski. As a priest at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Elk Grove, Kwiatkowski sees painting as a form of...
For The Love Of Art Artist manipulates materials to make something new By Jessica Laskey January 2024 Shirley Hazlett’s excitement is palpable. As she leads me around her studio in a building off Sutterville Road, she explains her artmaking process. Drip, pour, lift,...
When Marjorie Methven landed in town to earn a teaching credential and master’s degree at Sacramento State, she had no idea she was returning to her roots.
“While doing research for my master’s thesis on visual self-narrative, I started to look into my own genealogical history,” Methven says. “It turns out that my great-great grandfather settled in Antioch and my great uncles worked for the railyard (in Sacramento) in different capacities at the turn of the 20th century. I didn’t know that before I moved here. It was quite serendipitous.”
Before the research, Sacramento was just a place on the map to Methven, who grew up in Minnesota and went to college in Wisconsin.
If you’re tempted to lick one of Kevin Wilhite’s paintings, don’t.
Though the delectable treats he portrays in oil paint as thick as frosting look sweet enough to eat, they’re still paint.
“I get hungry every time I paint ice cream,” Wilhite says.
His latest series features every flavor of Gunther’s ice cream. He explains, “I started learning to use the palette knife to incorporate more shape into my pieces, which lends a more chunky, textural style.”
