Meet Pat Wellborn 

This quote by Lawrence Brullo, an Italian artist, hangs in my studio, where I can see it every day:  “One seeks to become an artist by training the hand.
Then one finds it is the eye that needs improving.
Later one learns it is the mind that wants developing.
Only to discover it is all along …… in the spirit.
 
PAT WELLBORN paints the landscape because she has always loved the wilderness – she celebrates nature on paper.  Gradually, Pat found that reproducing what she saw was no longer satisfying to her  because when she competed with the camera “invariably the camera would win,” says Pat.  “One of my professors at UNCA said, ‘Never try to duplicate a bird’s nest – the bird can always do it better.’  So I use the subject to create something new, to convey my sense of joy or awe of nature.”
“Painting is an important part of who I am.  It not only has contributed to my growth as an artist, it has contributed greatly to my growth as a person.  When I started painting, the thoughts in my mind were ‘maybe I’ll put all this time into painting and only be mediocre’, or ‘what will people think of this (painting)’ or, ‘is all this work going to be worth it?’   As any artist knows, none of those thoughts are relevant.  What I have discovered is, after many years, I started to actually see the world differently, that while painting is not always fun or relaxing, it is always challenging and fulfilling. It helps me celebrate the good times and sustains me through the difficult times in my life.  Without art in my life, I am less than who I can be; and with it, I have something I can never lose – an abundance from within.”
 The mountains of Western North Carolina have been Pat’s home for eighteen years and provide a constant source of peace, strength and inspiration for her.
 Pat received her art education, first at University of North Carolina, 

Asheville, where she majored in Studio Art, and continued her studies  at
the Greenville Museum of Art where she studied under Carrie Burns
Brown. She has also studied with several nationally known artists, most recently Patricia Cole-Ferullo and Harry Thompson.
 Pat enjoys experimental watercolor and acrylics in her studio, and frequently paints on location as well. The underlying theme of all her paintings, as well as her major source of inspiration is her love of nature. She spends time in New Mexico each year, and finds the sharp contrast between the clear, stark beauty of the Southwest and the soft hazy colors of the Blue Ridge very exciting, and a challenge to express on paper.
 Her first solo exhibition was in 1994, and she has had four since then along with several group shows. Her paintings have won the Best of Show award at the Focus on Art show sponsored by the Transylvania Art League in 1993 and 1996. She also was awarded Best of Show by the Henderson County Art League in their 2000 members’ show. Her work is in the collection of SAS Institute in North Carolina, as well as the Wilkinson Foundation  in Asheville.
 In 1998, Pat was the recipient of the Regional Artist Grant awarded by the Henderson County Arts Council for a painting trip to Abiquiu, New Mexico, where she stayed at Christ in the Desert Monastery.
 She spent a week painting on Monhegan Island, Maine in June, 2006, where she studied with Steve Aimone. The Henderson County Art League  sponsored Pat and Lenore Barnett in an exhibition of their paintings from Monhegan Island in June 2007.
 In October 2008, Pat’s painting “Shed at Connemara”  received Best of Show in the annual juried show at the prestigious Wickwire Gallery.
 She was awarded Signature Membership in the Watercolor Society of North Carolina at their annual meeting and exhibition in October, 2009.
Pat Wellborn is proudly represented by WICKWIRE fine art/folk art  in in Hendersonville, North Carolina