About the Artist
Patty Rae Wellborn
Fine Art
Artist Statement
Excavating in Paint
When starting most of my paintings, I begin with color, shapes and lines - continuing with layer after layer of paint until things seem to take shape. Many times I dig into the paint with tools or actually scrape off some of the layers, revealing the colors under the surface. What is surprising is what I’ve uncovered depicts something from my subconcious. Most of the paintings have a story to tell that is easier for me to tell with pictures.
I was born in Lake Charles Louisiana. My earliest memory of drawing is of around the age of three years old. I remember drawing my grandmothers goldfish. It's a vivid memory. I'm the oldest of the grandchildren. I was sitting alone at the coffee table and I remember the adults were sitting in the kitchen area. I can't remember anything anyone said but, I remember my thinking. I was drawing circles with lines streaming from them all in one direction. I was amazed at how those lines made the little circular fish look like they were swimming. That is when I became aware of the power of lines in a drawing. In the abstract I paint today I continue to use the power of lines to create movement and interest in my paintings and drawings.
Patty Rae
By age five she was painting with watercolors and age seven she was given an Etcha Sketch for her birthday. "The Etcha Sketch was such a challenge to learn how to use. It was like drawing with a pen without being able to lift the pen for any reason. Turning both knobs on the gadget at one time was the only way to create diagonal lines. Some lines had to be retraced to get to another area of the drawing. I got good at it. Later on in my adult life I drew one-liner drawings like Picasso's. Lines continue to be an important part of my work on canvas."
When I was an eight year old I remember my parents buying a set of Encyclopedia Britannica and discovered the works of the masters. I was so taken by those wonderful sculptures and paintings that I decided then that I wanted to learn to draw and paint like them.
A neighbor gave her a paint-by-number set at the age ten. It was oil paint. "I didn't like the slow pace of filling in the little shapes with paint so I discarded the guide sheet and painted it in my own way."
Mastering the art of expressive realism had been a lifelong goal of mine but I also enjoy the expressive and spontaneous nature of abstract painting. I enjoy the physicality of oil paint. When I was a child my mother encouraged playing with art supplies. In fact, I was allowed to play outside in mud. I would build houses and carve out roads and try to make lakes which never seemed to hold the water. Smearing paint around is much like playing in multiple colors of pigmented mud. I paint in many layers using mediums such as cold wax or Liquid Impasto to build up texture. I use a multitude of tools to create texture or crevices in the paint.
2024
Center for Contemporary Arts Abilene Solo Exhibit "Excavating in Paint" March 1 - April 13th
Art In Uncommon Places San Angelo Performing Arts Center 2024 - Invited
Stars of Texas Annual Juried Show and Competition Invited
2023
Stars of Texas Annual Juried Show and Competition 1st Place Oil
Art in Uncommon Places Juried Show San Angelo, Texas Invited
Center for Contemporary Arts Annual National Show Abilene, Tx Invited
2022
Abilene Creative Arts Club Annual Membership Show Awarded 3rd Place
Invited Stars if Texas Juried Art Exhibition in Brownwood, Texas Awarded 1st place oil
2021
Invited CCAN Anual Paint-Off Abilene, Texas
2020
Invited Grand Opening Oak Arbor Event Venue April 2020 Juror Tim Smith
Solo Exhibit Absolute Perfection Day Spa Abilene, Texas May 2020
November Invited CCAN Annual Paint-off
Invited Center for Contemporary Arts National Juried Show November 2020 Thomas Motley, Juror
October Creative Arts Club Demonstration Watercolor and Pen
2019
Solo Exhibit Monk's Coffee House Abilene, Texas December 2019 - January 31, 2020
Invited TVAA "Ativism" Dallas, Texas September 2019 Jonathan Carroll, Juror
Invited Fall Gallery Night 2019 In Ft Worth, Texas
Weiler House Fine Art Gallery "Side by Side" With Walker Wellborn
Invited Raw 1899 September Group Show San Angelo, Texas
Accepted Precious Metals Show TVAA Gallery Dallas, Texas
Honorable Mention Curated by Ju Ju Bartosh
Juror Lake Country Art Show August 2019 Graham, Texas
Honorable Mention "Hot Child in the City" 2019
TVAA Gallery Dallas, Texas Curated by Deborah Viestenz
Best in Show TVAA July 2019 Show "Expressions" TVAA Gallery Curated by Lina RinconDallas, Texas
Expressions Solo Exhibition," Inquire Within”May 22nd -July 6th 2019
Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, Texas
1st Place Ribbon for "Procession" TVAA Gallery May 2019 Show Dallas, Texas
Conclave of Color, Shape and Pattern Curated by Charles Wallis
Accepted 30th Anniversary Group Show April 2019
Center for Contemporary Arts Abilene, Texas
Solo Exhibit Brownwood Art Center March 2019 Brownwood, Texas
Accepted 21st Annual Starts of Texas Show
2019 Brownwood, Texas Curated by Pat Gabriel
Accepted TVAA Love and Hurt Show February 2019
TVAA Gallery Dallas, Texas
TVAA New Member Show January 2019 TVAA Gallery Dallas, Texas
how "Untamed" Raw 1899 Gallery San Angelo, Texas
Storybook Attic Show Center for Contemporary Arts Kacy Latham, Curator
Juror, Young Masters Art Competition Abilene, Texas
Juror, Mc Murry Student Exhibition Mc Murry University, Abilene, Texas
Juror, Group Exhibition San Angelo Art Club
Solo Exhibition, “Color in Motion” January 2019 Center for Contemporary Arts
Abilene, Texas
Accepted 20th Annual Stars of Texas Annual Show Brownwood, Texas Randy Bacon, Curator
2017
Solo Exhibition "Joyful Abstraction"Mike Lanier's Studio 13 Abilene, Texas
Solo Exhibition Drawn to Abstraction
Raw 1899 Art Gallery San Angelo, Texas
Panel of Women - Abilene Women in The Visual Arts Celebration
Curators Talk by Judy Deaton The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas
Charles and Kay Beth Stavley Award
19th Annual Stars of Texas Curated by Ben Sum Brownwood, Texas 2017
19th Annual Stars of Texas Paint-Off Best Overall
Brownwood,Texas Curator Randy Bacon
2018
Best of Show "Winter" Curated by Milessa Murphy Stewart
Downtown Gallery December 2018 Dallas, Texas
Solo Exhibit Breckenridge Fine Arts Center December/January Breckenridge, Texas
Solo Exhibit, Monks Coffee House November /December 2018 Abilene, Texas
Accepted, Center for Contemporary Arts National Show Curated by James Surls
Invited, Group S
2016
Solo Exhibition, Patty Rae Wellborn The Art Center, Brownwood, Texas
First Place Oil Lake Country Art Show and Honorable Mention Graham, Texas
Accepted, Midland Arts Association Biennial Juried Exhibition
Museum of The Southwest, Midland, Texas
Accepted, National Show Breckenridge Fine Arts Museum
Breckenridge, Texas Bill Ryan, Curator
Third Place, Oil on Canvas San Angelo Art Club Annual Exhibition San Angelo, Texas
2015
Accepted, National Competition Breckenridge Museum of Fine Arts
Breckenridge, Texas Randy Meador, Juror
Solo Exhibit, Recent Works of Patty Rae Wellborn
Amy Graves Fine Art Center, McMurry University, Abilene, Texas
Award of Merit 6th Annual National Fine Art Competition
Old Post Office Museum & Art Center, Graham, Texas Tony Eubanks Juror
2013
"Drawn Together" Duo Exhibit Patty Rae and Dub Wellborn
Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, Texas
Juror, Miniature Exhibition
Sponsored by Ballinger Art Group Ballinger, Texas
2008
Off Your Rocker Three-woman exhibition
with Terry Knight and Burgess Thomas
Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, Texas
ASSOCIATIONS
Artist Member President 2008 and 2019
Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX
Creative Arts Club of Abilene, Tx
Texas Art Coalition
Texas Visual Arts Association
Juror West Texas Fair & Rodeo
Youth Fine Arts throughout 1990's
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Article, Wellborn Puts ‘Color in Motion’, Abilene Scene Magazine, Zachry Publications, Jan/Feb.2018
Article, Abilene Scene Magazine, Zachry Publications, April/May 2013
Article, Abilene Scene Magazine, Zachry Publications, June/July 2013
I Like It When You Read to Me, Children’s book by Glenn Dromgoole
Illustrations by Patty Rae Wellborn
