Painting is the medium through which I explore, adapt, and understand adaptation through the many changes I’ve encountered over the course of my life. Changes in the country where I live, in the people closest to me, in my environments, awakenings, and periods of transformative investigation. Transition periods for me have been times of deep searching. Each era has a unique purpose within the continuity of my life’s experience. I paint that which surrounds me, what I am personally experiencing in a given moment, both real and imagined. Natural landscapes have proven a constant. While some of my work reflects physically identifiable geographical formations, I embrace the unexpected subject whose appearance may mean they take center stage. Then, the landscape may fade into a background, may be reflected through the presence of some favorite flowers or other token, or may shift entirely to an imaginary or abstract landscape that, within its depths, has become the keeper of those thoughts, memories, and dreams. I am fortunate to have worked as a professor of Art history throughout my career as an active artist, and the pandemic lockdowns prompted me to pursue a deep study of the Great Masters. In tribute to their work and legacy, I am now exploring a more prominent incorporation of the human form in my work. Ultimately, the theme serves as an excuse to explore the ever-changing language of my visual art, where the main elements are loose brushstrokes, color, and textures. I use mixed techniques, acrylics, oils, pastels, and collage.
- Patricia Betancourt