Litchfield's

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Patrice Wachs is a contemporary realist painter residing in rural Sonoma County. Her work explores the interplay of light, shadow, color and form in landscapes and architectural structures, often with the subtext of isolation. Balancing a modern approach to composition while minimizing nostalgia, she uses her graphic art experience and photographic skills to reimagine her subjects with a strong structural sense of place, omitting and altering details to achieve clean, flat planes of color.
 
After college graduation, Wachs left the grey Pacific Northwest with her husband for sunny Santa Monica, where she continued her art education at Otis Art Institute. She started her career as an artist and art director for magazines, film and animation companies, as well as book, record album and product design for private clients. While working on a documentary, she enrolled in the film program at UCLA, expanding her experience with work on the Eye on LA TV show, designing film graphics and storyboards for multiple films and commercials. After raising their two children, she was hired to create an art curriculum for a Malibu private middle school where she taught painting, drawing, ceramics, and photography, with her students winning multiple awards. 
 
Moving to the North Bay in 2019, Wachs returned to painting full time, gaining recognition for her contemporary depiction of barns and iconic structures. Her paintings are in numerous private collections across the country.