Patricia Dunbar paints with transparent watercolor. It’s a medium to which she has always been attracted. She loves watercolor for the clear colors, the transparency, and the washes that can be built up to create interesting surfaces. While watercolors are challenging, the medium is more forgiving than many people seem to think; lifting and scratching the surface can remove paint. Pat paints landscapes with a bit of the man-made coming into the picture: buildings, bridges, and roof lines. She also usually chooses to paint vertically rather than the traditional “landscape” horizontal placement. She likes the idea of painting a “slice” of the various layers in a scene.
City/country, summer/winter, colorful/little color, all interest her. It’s the design, the light, and balance that help her choose what to paint. Pat paints outside on site, usually smaller pieces; she also paints inside using her own photographs as subject matter. She loves to travel and record images of travel in her paintings. These paintings are a way of sharing some of her favorite locations with others.