Matzke Fine Art and Design

Ron Pattern, Paintings

I am a visual artist, primarily a painter, always fascinated by the world around and challenged by capturing light and shadow, texture and expression, mood and drama. I currently paint acrylic on canvas as a studio and plein air painter but have also worked extensively with transparent watercolor on paper and am a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society. I am also dedicated to capturing the nuances of human form and expression through live model drawing and painting sessions.

I grew up on the north bank of the Fraser River in Haney, British Columbia, where I remember sitting around the kitchen table with siblings and cousins over the rainy winters drawing incessantly. I studied Graphic Arts and Illustration at Douglas College where I graduated in 1980 and began painting seriously. I took a series of workshops with various artists from the Federation of Canadian Artists and became a member in 1987.

I married and traveled around the U.S., eventually settling in beautiful Whatcom County where I continued to study and paint as my children grew. In the early years of my career, I focused on watercolor on paper studying the work of Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth and Ken Danby. Wyeth’s paintings, in particular, have always deeply affected me. I started jurying in and exhibiting with the Northwest Watercolor Society winning many awards and became a Signature member in 1995.

I have been involved in many group and solo exhibitions throughout Puget Sounds.

The Seasonal Forest is inspired by a lifetime of wandering the temperate rainforest. I have always drawn and painted trees. Sometimes when I finish a painting, an unintended metaphor suggests my relationship to people and humanity.