Patrick Reid O’Brien, AIS
Art became an important part of Patrick Reid O’Brien’s life early on. He was honored to be named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar and later a Scholar Athlete at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he studied fine art and painting. Those years taught Patrick discipline, observation, and the importance of continuing to learn, lessons that still shape the way he approaches painting today. Art was an escape from the sadness of his parent’s divorce. Patrick could live in a world of joy that he created. Everyone needs a little more positivity, he thinks that is why he paints in his style, to share that feeling.
Patrick has now been painting professionally for more than 20 years. Along the way, his work has taken him across the country and around the world. He has exhibited in New York, The Hamptons, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Raleigh , Charlotte, Charleston, Savannah, Sarasota , Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C. to name a few.
Patrick has also been fortunate to create artwork for organizations and names he admired long before he ever worked with them, including the White House, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, and the Kentucky Derby Museum. His work has also been featured in Southern Living. Patrick is grateful for those experiences, but what matters most to him is that he has been able to make a living doing the thing he has wanted to do since he was six.
Patrick’s education as a painter has never stopped. He continually studies the artists who came before him, especially Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, John Singer Sargent, and the California Impressionists. Patrick studies the way they handle light, color temperature, broken color, edges, atmosphere, composition, and brushwork. Every painting gives him another opportunity to understand those ideas more deeply and find his own way of expressing them.
He is a committed perpetual student and teacher.
That is also why teaching has become such an important part of Patrick’s life as an artist. When he teaches, he shares everything he knows. He wants students to understand not only what to do, but why it works. One of the greatest rewards Patrick experiences is watching someone suddenly grasp a concept and then seeing their painting improve right in front of him. There is an excitement in that moment that never gets old.
Teaching also makes Patrick examine his own process. Verbally explaining value, color, brushwork, edges, composition, or the structure underneath a painting forces him to understand those ideas more clearly hisself.
Patrick has also had the opportunity to judge art competitions. He enjoys the responsibility of looking closely at the entries and explaining why certain paintings rise above others. It is fascinating to study what makes a piece exceptional, whether it is composition, originality, control of value, color, confidence of execution, or simply the ability of a painting to hold one’s attention.
After more than two decades of professional painting, Patrick still approaches the easel with curiosity. He has been fortunate to travel, exhibit, meet collectors, work with organizations he respects, and has made paintings in places he never expected to see when he first looked at his great-great-great-great-grandfather’s artwork as a boy.
But Patrick still approaches painting like a student. For him, that is one of the best parts of being an artist. There is always another painting to make, another lesson to learn, and another opportunity to pass something meaningful along to someone else.
Art is an opportunity to have a conversation with another human being and share something, a perspective of what you see in the world that’s worth looking at.
Examples of My Work:
