Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Pat Tribastone, and I am your new blogger for NOAPS.  Although I started out in pastel painting, most of my work is now done in oil, thanks to the reintroduction of the use of walnut oil, and safer options for solvents.  As a representational artist, I paint mostly still life and portraits, with an emphasis on color, light and shadow.

Although I could write more about the techniques of my own work, perhaps more interesting is the essence behind what and why I paint.  As artists, we all know that we paint because we love the process, the result, the expression, and so on.  We’ve all read about that.  But what goes much more to the core of my painting is the desire to bring out something beautiful.  Something that someone might look at and see the quiet, the overlooked, the simple existence of everyday objects.  Still life might be looked at as just a study, but when more closely observed, these objects take on a life, and like all paintings, invite the viewer into the world of the painting.   My desire is to paint these objects with sensitivity, such that the viewer yearns to touch them, to be a part of the world they are looking into.

So on and on we chase after that elusive element of painting…the element that makes one fall silent upon viewing our painting; the element that tells us we have a masterpiece.

Pat is a Signature member of NOAPS, a juried member of the International Guild of Realism, a juried member of the Salmagundi Club of NYC, a Master Pastelist with the Pastel Society of America, and a Master Circle Artist with the International Association of Pastel Societies.  She maintains a gallery/studio in Canandaigua, NY.  http://www.patriciatribastoneart.com.