Glimpses of North Carolina | Art Exhibit by Stacia Patin
I’m proud to share that I will be showing my first solo art exhibit at the Herbert C. Young Community Center in Cary, NC from December 10th through February 3rd.
Artist Statement:
This collection of paintings showcases the beauty and variety of North Carolina by showcasing 3 distinctly diverse places I have visited frequently around this state: The Outer Banks, The Neuse River and The Blue Ridge Parkway. These 3 capsule collections capture memories painted from a mix of ‘en plein air’ (painted outdoors on location) and photographs taken on trips to these locations. In each painting, I endeavored to expressively capture the variety and essence of each place utilizing the wet-on-wet watercolor technique for most of the pieces to create a soft, ethereal effect focused on color and emphasizing the organic nature of watercolors. During my time in these locations, I looked to capture diversity of weather, time of day and season to showcase the variety of color and beauty these places evoke.
My Process:
Most paintings are painted with the wet-on-wet watercolor technique on 300 lbs. cold-press watercolor paper. I have been experimenting with the technique of completely submerging the paper in water for 10-15 minutes and then working quickly, without any underdrawings until they dry, usually within about 1-2 hrs. This forces me to work intuitively to capture the energy of the place with wash-like impressions of the landscape. Since watercolor pigments flow with this technique can be unpredictable, the pigments flow with little control, the paint dries lighter and organic variations appear as you dry, you must account for that while painting this way. This loss of control is both challenging and exciting for me, each piece a becomes a bit of a surprise, and part of the excitement of this process is that the more I play with the medium the stronger my understanding of the different pigments and how they will appear when dry. I love working with super-granulating pigments, watercolor sticks, salt, color lifting and scratching to get different effects and textures and continue to explore the beautiful organic variations you can achieve despite the fluid nature of this technique.
Behind the Scenes in OBX
About the Artist:
Stacia Patin is an artist based in Raleigh, NC. While originally from California, she moved to Raleigh in 2018 and has loved exploring this beautiful state and capturing photos to later paint. In college, she studied fine art, minoring in psychology with hopes of pursing art therapy. Her journey entailed taking a break from seriously purusing art as she worked for 12 years in the field of Digital Marketing, painting as a hobby on and off during that time however in 2021 her passion for painting was reinvigorated as she began going on many road trips and needed an outlet for her creativity. In 2023 she took a sabbatical to explore her passion for painting and launched her art website, Stacia’s Studio where she sells her original art, prints and products designed using her art. While she works primarily in watercolor, she also does portraiture in Acrylic and Oils and plans to explore landscape paintings with those mediums next. She also loves taking commissions as finds meaning in creating art for purpose. Her goal is to expressively re-create joyful imagery of the places, people and memories that bring joyful meaning to this life. Learn more about her work at: www.staciasstudio.com.
