About Pat Kelley
Biography
I have been drawing and making art in some form since I was four years old. I was born in Washington DC but, as the daughter of an American diplomat, spent much of my childhood in Japan, Korea, and Hawaii. I studied art at Parsons School of Design and afterwards traveled to Europe to learn from the masterpieces in the great museums of London, Paris, Rome and Florence. I studied oil painting at a private atelier in Lisbon and had my first solo exhibit there. I currently reside in Arlington Virginia, just across the river from Washington DC.
I paint in oils on canvas or panel by hand, using traditional methods. There is something about picking up a brush, placing paint where I feel it should go and creating a piece of art out of nothing just as painters have done for hundreds of years. It's like magic, alchemy...there is no feeling that quite compares for me. My main artistic focus is portraits and figures. I shift between subjects from the past and current times and I see connections that I hope the viewer will also see. My artistic inspirations include Johannes Vermeer, John Singer Sargent, Malcolm Liepke and Ron Hicks. My paintings are sparked by a wide array of things ranging from my friends to art history and old Hollywood, vintage and current fashion. I love to create moods, evoke emotions, and tell stories within my paintings.
