I was born in Los Angeles and graduated with degrees in Fine Art and Philosophy from UC Santa Barbara. After a few years as an illustrator, I moved to Ketchum, Idaho, and for 20 years, traveled through Big Sky Country--- Idaho, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, and fully experienced the vast lonely plains and grandeur, the Rockies, rivers and lakes. In addition to oil painting, I trained Labrador retrievers, caught fish, rode horses, climbed mountains, kayaked rivers, skied, photographed rodeos, cowboys, and working ranches in the Stanley Basin.
In the 90s, I spent time on the East Coast and painted classic wooden sailboats and New York cityscapes. After that, I returned to California and formed a company, Roaring Mouse Entertainment, which produced educational programing for children. It was great fun to produce and digitally illustrate characters and settings in six titles. I also painted a collection of Still Lifes in a traditional style, using religious and allegorical symbolism, adding whimsical objects to portray imagination and fantasy. In 2008, I began a long journey researching ocean animals that live off the coast of California, and writing and digitally illustrating a Young Adult novel, donating the proceeds to the Sea Shepherd Society.
A few years ago, I brought out my oil paints again. I painted commissioned portraits, and Western Art---cowboys, cattle, horses, rodeos and the harsh, lonely landscapes of the American West. The iconic cowboy as a symbol will always endure in our imagination and in life. The West represents strength, survival, resilience and independence, the best qualities in all of us.
Recently I've been painting brilliant oil paintings of fish and the kelp forest to illustrate the decimation of ocean life, the product of climate change and overpopulation. We know more about space than we do our oceans. It is estimated that there could be as many as 750,000 undiscovered species of marine life, yet we are doing little to save them.
I'm fortunate to live on the coast in Southern California, near the Channel Islands, where gray whales, blue whales and dolphins still thrive. My other love is hiking in the mountains of the Sierra Nevadas. Humility and strength found in nature and animals has always been the driving force in my life.
“We simply need that wild country available to us… For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” ---Wallace Stegner
My work is featured in various commercial collections, from the Hyannis Port Yacht Club in Massachusetts to Cosmopolitan Magazine headquarters in New York City in addition to private collectors.
Education:Bachelor’s degree in Art and Philosophy, UC Santa Barbara
Private collections:
Scott Ogden, Los Angeles, CA
Lord and Lady Guidon, Brentwood, CA
Lew O'Neil, Beverly Hills, CA
Sal Ladestro, Hollywood, CA
John B. Wilson, Hyannis Port, MA
Robert and Kuppy Kraft, Osterville, MA
Elizabeth Niels, Pittsburgh, PA
Benjamin Lynch, Cambridge, MA
Estebon Tripodi, Bedford, NY
David Miller, Hollywood, CA
William and Donna Perrault, Camarillo, CA
Jerry Samuels, Palm Springs, CA
Aart Nutgeren, Burlington, VT
Andy Michaels, Pittsburgh, PA
Matt and Jess Brand, Greenwich, CT
Mike Meyers, Los Angeles, CA
William and Cathy Bindley, Malibu, CA
Karen Lebar, Los Angeles, CA
Frank andMonika Perna, Teton Village, WY
Rachel andCraig Guthrie, Los Angeles, CA
BradZipper, Los Angeles, CA
SarahCollins, Boston, MA
RichardHilmer, Osterville, MA
Karl Malone, Newport Beach, CA
Scott Mahalick, Seattle, WA
DavidSteinberg, Los Angeles, CA
RichardBrand, Key Largo, FL
Evans Arnold,Hyannis Port, MA
PaulKirby, Lincoln, MA
John McEnroe, Los Angeles, CA
Corporate collections:
2G DigitalPost, Inc., Culver City, CA
Zinc CapitalManagement, New York, NY
GoldsmithConsulting Group, Pacific Palisades, CA
O’NeilProperties, Philadelphia, PA
Michael Ingbar Gallery of Architectural Art, New York, NY
HyannisPort Golf Club, Hyannis Port, MA
Memberships:
CaliforniaArt Club, Pasadena, CA
OilPainters of America, Steamboat Springs, CO
Publications(digital):
Legendof the Sea-Borne, YA fantasy book series, digital illustrations
AllDogs Go to Heaven, video game for children, digital animation, MGM
Ocean Explorers, video game for children, digital animation, Roaring Mouse Entertainment
BugExplorers, video game for children, digital animation, Roaring Mouse Entertainment
CD-ROMReview
ByteMagazine
InCider Magazine
Run Magazine
AmigaWorld
Chittenden Corporation Annual Report
Past Gallery Representation:
CorporateArt Directions, New York, NY
Burns FineArt, New York, NY
Schomburg Fine Arts, Santa Monica, CA
GroupShows:
111th Annual Juried Exhibition,Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York, NY
NationalFigurative Exhibit,Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, CA
21stAnnual Juried Exhibition,Cultural Center of Douglasville, Douglasville, GA
16thNational Exhibition, Art Institute & Gallery, Salisbury, MD
Venice ArtWalk and Auctions, Venice, CA
Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica,CA
CaliforniaOpen Exhibition –Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA
Paint, South Shore Art Center, Award ofMerit, Gerry Bergstein, Juror
StudioMontclair, Annual Exhibition, Continuum, Monclair, NJ
Mills PondHouse Gallery Juried Fine Arts Exhibition, St. James, NY
BeyondToys JuriedExhibition, Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA
And YouThink That’s Funny?Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
AnniversaryCelebration, GreenhouseGallery of Art, San Antonio, TX
SalonInternational Juried Exhibition,International Museum of Contemporary Masters of Fine Art, San Antonio, TX
AnnualAll Media Exhibition,Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC
2008Open juried Exhibition,Topanga Canyon Gallery, Topanga, CA
NationalArt Premiere 2008,Elmhurst Artists Guild, Elmhurst, IL
AnnualVisual Arts Exhibition,Visual Arts Society of Texas, Denton, TX
AnnualJuried Exhibition,Germantown Art League, Memphis, TN, Award: Best in Show
SalonInternational Exhibit,San Antonio, TX, Jury’s Top Fifty.
Museum ofthe Southwest Annual Exhibit, Midland, TX First Place: Painting
KatharineButler Gallery Annual Juried Show, Sarasota, FL
Rome ArtCoterie’s Sixth National Juried Exhibition, Rome, GA
SylviaWhite Gallery Annual Juried Show, Ventura, CA
Richeson75 Still Life & Floral Juried Show, Kimberly, WI
ExpressionsWest, Coos Museumof Art, Coos Bay, OR
ManchesterNational Juried Arts Exhibition,1212 Gallery, Richmond, VA
34thAnnual Juried Exhibition,Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
HyannisPort Beach Club Annual Art Show,Hyannis Port, MA
JuriedExhibition,Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, Awards: Best in Show, Best Oil Painting.
Landscape,Cityscape, Mindscape,T. Wood Gallery, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT
TheGovernor’s Show,The Statehouse, Capitol Building, Montpelier, VT
One-womanshows:
Malibu –Old and New, TheSage Room Gallery, Malibu, CA
New Works, L.A. Nicola Restaurant andGallery, Los Angeles, CA
StarboardTack, Birdsey’s onthe Cape Gallery, Osterville, MA
NewWorks, Daily Planet,Burlington, VT
Cityscapes, Brand residence, Pittsburgh, PA
Cityscapes, Ketchum Art Gallery, Ketchum, ID
SageHill Group presents Rena Patterson,Sage Hill Group, Sun Valley, ID
NewWorks, ImagesGallery, Ketchum, ID
Social media:
Instagram: renapattersonart
Twitter: renapattart
Deviant Art: 11renapatterson
Art Station: Rena Patterson Art