Rushland
By Michele Malinchak
If you look at paintings by Patrick Walsh, you’ll think two different artists are at work. One who does traditional Bucks County landscapes in muted earth tones, and the other whose abstract work screams with color. He’s at home with both styles, exhibiting a rare versatility in his craft. Often moving back and forth from two easels, he’ll work on traditional and abstract pieces at the same time. “I can disconnect one from the other,” he said.”
He’s a contemporary artist who has worked with a variety of materials and mediums, but primarily paints in acrylics now, after deciding to stop using oils in 1998. Though he admits oil paints come to life more than acrylics, “I like the challenge of painting with acrylics,” he said, “of trying to make them appear as rich as oils.”
His abstract work often contains writing as a design element and recognizable images of animals and human figures. We see a blazing red panther against a turquoise background in his painting entitled, “Hot Panther,” or the highly abstracted portrait of a red-headed woman in “Pearls.”
The late Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky once said, “Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet.”
It could be said that Patrick meets all these criteria. While some of his abstract work addresses social and political themes, others are not related to anything specific. In all his abstract paintings, colors vibrate with intensity and gestural brushstrokes create rhythm and movement.
In “Rushland,” the painting pictured here, we see the other side of his art. This traditional landscape is one close to his heart. “I used to fish here with my dad, my brothers and sister. We would hear the train go over the bridge with Neshaminy Creek below. This painting is pure heart based on memory,” he said.
His other representational work includes paintings of Bucks County Playhouse, farmhouses, winter scenes and figurative work.
Patrick applies his paint in thin layers on canvas using fine brushstrokes for landscapes and figurative work, while his abstract work displays thicker textures and broader brushstrokes.
He doesn’t follow any set method for creating his art and his style always varies from solid to loose depending on the subject. “How you get to the finish doesn’t matter, it’s the finish that matters,” he said.
He loves to draw and sometimes works from sketches and photos. If he’s painting plein air, he paints directly on the canvas with no under drawing. He enjoys the spontaneity of painting outdoors and said, “I just take the brush and go to town, going from big shapes to small.”
Patrick was born in Abington, PA and grew up in Doylestown. He went to Central Bucks High School West where he opted out of study hall so he could have two art periods a day. The urge to work and earn money overtook his interest in school, and he dropped out in 1964 and went to work with his father as a furniture technician. He was convinced by both his parents to re-enroll and did so, graduating in June 1965. A few months later, he joined the U.S. Navy in October and headed for Viet Nam where he served until 1969.
Upon returning home, he continued working as a furniture technician, a trade he learned from his father who was also a cabinetmaker and furniture refinisher. Some of his father’s early jobs included refinishing woodwork at the Cock n’ Bull Restaurant in Peddler’s Village, Lahaska. He also did work for renowned woodworker and furniture designer, the late George Nakashima. Patrick recalled meeting him and admiring his work.
In order to support his art, Patrick always worked during the day and painted at night. For several years he repaired furniture for Gamburg’s in Hatboro and Oskar Huber in Southampton.
He studied at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia from 1970-71, and also attended Bucks County Community College in Newtown from 1971-73.
He considers himself mostly self-taught, reading about art and watching other painters at work. His grandmother also painted in addition to his father who studied art at Hussian College, formerly Hussian School of Art, in Philadelphia.
Patrick admires the work of artists past and present including European masters, Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollack and Mary Beth McKenzie, to name a few.
He met and became friends with local artists as well, such as the late David Frame who once did the cover art for Bucks County Magazine. He used to visit David’s Doylestown gallery on State Street and the two hit it off. Sharing the cost of a live model, they’d often paint portraits together and engage in long discussions about art.
For six years, Patrick ran the Doylestown Art Center on Oakland Avenue every Sunday. No longer there, it was a small place where children and adults could take lessons in drawing and painting. He was among the artists who taught and painted there including Glenn Harren who remains a close friend today.
A life changing event occurred on May 1, 1991, a day Patrick will always remember. “That was my sobriety day, or May Day as I call it, when I made a vow to paint every day if I could give up drinking.” He credits Alcoholics Anonymous with saving his life and has kept his promise about painting.
In 1996 he rented a room in an old farmhouse in Warrington as a studio. Eventually, the farm was sold and became a housing development. His attachment to the farm is expressed in the painting, “Farewell,” which now hangs in Doylestown Hospital. Like many artists in the area, Patrick is concerned with vanishing farmland and the changing face of Bucks County.
When he lost the farmhouse studio, he decided to build one in his backyard. In March 2017 after a bad winter storm, the roof collapsed, destroying much of his work. Patrick was in Florida at the time and wasn’t able to retrieve what was left until later.
After his first marriage ended in divorce in 1996, Patrick eventually remarried in 2016. His wife, Elaine, has a doctorate degree in teaching writing from University of Pennsylvania. Artist Al Fetterman, whom Patrick has known since the 1990’s, was best man at their wedding.
The couple divides their time between their home in New Hope and the west coast of Florida. While there Patrick still paints every day and recently donated one of his paintings to the local community center.
In 2014 Patrick left his day job and began to pursue painting full time. He enjoys the challenge of creating art and thinks about it constantly. At 77 he’s still learning and continues to be inspired by other artists. When he’s home, he attends weekly life drawing sessions at the home of artists Emily and George Thompson in Plumsteadville, PA.
Patrick has exhibited at numerous locations, including The Hahn Gallery in Chestnut Hill, M&H Custom Framing and Gallery, National Academy of Design, galleries in New York, The Golden Door Gallery and ARETE Gallery in New Hope. His paintings are in collections at Delaware Valley University and Doylestown Hospital. He is currently represented by As You Like It Gallery and Frame Studio in New Hope.
He also does commissioned work and posts his paintings on Facebook. Some of his traditional art can be viewed online by visiting the Bucks County Artists Database at www.michenerartmuseum.org. Many of his abstracts are accessible by doing a Google search for: Patrick Walsh Bucks County artist.
When asked what he hopes viewers get from his work, he said, “I’m surprised by all the positive comments I get on Facebook. If my paintings touch them, then I’m happy with that.”
Michele Malinchak is a freelance writer who has a degree in art and enjoys oil painting.