Patricia Halsell

My latest series, 'Meadow', is an exploration of color, mark making, brushstrokes and abstraction. I am drawn to the microcosm of life: the wildflowers, weeds and overlooked foliage of nature. I then return to the studio and blow these up to large scale. My subject matter comes from wild places I visit, from the 91-acre forested park in Seattle where I walk my dog every day, to Old Chief Joseph’s gravesite in northeastern Oregon, to my recent trips to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. I’m moving away from the highly rendered classical style in which I was trained. However, even though I am painting more loosely and abstractly than before, I take a still life approach to this work, applying classical composition concepts to each painting.