About us
Self-taught Artist, a manipulator of paint, husband, gardener and cook. I say these last three things so that you might understand me a little more. I enjoy my life.
I was born in the Spokane, Wa. We moved to Ca. when I was young and quickly ended up in Pasadena, Ca. I started painting with oils on canvas when I was 13 and have been creating art in one form or another ever since. In those early years I started forming my own style of painting by looking at the art of great painters such as Picasso, De Kooning, Pollock, too name a few…from them I taught myself how to use color, light and shade. Though many of these artists have influenced me over the years I still have a unique and totally different style that makes it easy to recognize my works.
I am currently working with acrylic enamel house paint, I started this in June of 2007 with a series I called, “ From the Bottom of the Bucket to Pollock” and found that I like the way the paint acted; it’s drying time, the transparency of some colors, the depth of the shading the paint creates, makes the painting more vibrant, alive.
-Patrick Gothard
I grew up in a single parent home. We never saw dad and our mom worked hard to shelter us from the economic struggles of the times. My first camera came at the age of nine for Girl Scout camp. I loved taking the pictures and learned to record my friends and family living life beyond the usual special events.
Fast forward to the age of the digital camera where it became financially easy to take pictures of everything! I took pictures of the usual loved ones but now I was able to include what I was sewing or my home baked bread. We used the digital camera to record Patrick’s artwork. For the first time, the camera became a tool that assisted us to show ourselves.
We joined the local community garden and I found a wonderful new happy place. Naturally my camera came with me. The garden is a natural resource filled with willing participants for my experimental photography. The Iris were especially willing to pose with a happy face. The roses are sometimes grumpy, so you have to catch them in a good mood. Wildflowers are always happy, but they don’t stay long so you have to catch them quick.
A community garden is full of vegetable varities not readily seen in markets. I was surprised at the response to veggie pictures. In addition to the usual pleasantries at seeing the pictures, people would “yum” over the tomatoes and fresh organic lettuce.
Currently I have stumbled onto mushrooms. They are a complete mystery to me and I see them as cute, willing and filled with poison. They hide under redwood decks and rotting leaves. They show up in the tall grass, right there in the front yard. I even found some growing out from a tree trunk and they were beautiful.
The photography, blended with the garden and nature, has allowed me the inner peace and the down time to create beauty as I see it: to reflect on the true love we enjoy. The riches we have possession of but cannot buy.
-Mary Gothard
