Pat Henry is an artist, an architect, and one of the first women to sail solo around the world! She's an amazing woman - full of inspiration and enthusiasm for whatever she sets her mind to.
I met Pat via a mutual friend, Helen MacKinlay, who had met Pat in Singapore when she sailed into port. When I had a show at T. Fuller Gallery last year in P.V., we met for coffee for the first time and then Pat came to my opening reception.
I drove down to Puerto Vallarta to surprise Pat at her studio/gallery opening June 6. Pat had come up to do my monotype workshop in April and was showing the monotypes she produced as well as new abstract paintings. It was great to see the monotypes framed and on the wall. She had 2 series, one of colorful tango shoes (Tango being her new passion) and the other, more abstract, with images of Frida Kahlo peeking out behind bright colors. "Ole" had a bold black overlay with gestural marks allowing the rich Mexican colors to show thru.
With this new work, Pat was breaking out of her tighter, realistic approach to painting - landscapes and figures of her travels including neighborhood scenes in Puerto Vallarta. And did she go wild! The medium size canvases - all untitled - are rich with drips and splashes of color. All are vibrant and purely abstract.
Pat wrote a book about her sail around the world - a great read! By the Grace of the Sea: A Woman's Solo Odyssey Around the World (McGraw Hill/International Marine/02)
Check out her work and bio in http://www.pat-henry.com/
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