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Patricia Watwood, 1971 | Figurative painter


Patricia Watwood is an American⏩ figurative painter. Watwood’s paintings explore transformative narratives and mythological archetypes using the human figure. Her oil paintings show traditional methods and a technical rigor that balance perception and conceptual design.
Watwood has exhibited at galleries and institutions worldwide such as Hirschl and Adler and The Forbes Galleries in NYC, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Butler Museum, and the Bruce Museum.


In 2012-2013, her work was viewed in China in an historic presentation of American painting, Contemporary American Realism, which toured six cities including Beijing and Shanghai. Watwood’s solo museum exhibit, Patricia Watwood: Myths and Individuals was on view in two venues in 2011-2012: St. Louis University Museum of Art, and The Forbes Galleries, NYC. Watwood’s paintings are in private and public collections internationally, such as The New Britain Museum of American Art, Harvard University, St. Louis City Hall, Weill-Cornell Medical College, St. Louis University Museum of Art, and Culver Academy.


The artist describes the work as an allegory about her motives for painting.
She writes,
“The model is the unattainable beauty of perfect’ painting. The landscape is the urban jungle that is my world. Faith is what is required to traverse the distance between the hope and the eality. The wilderness is many faceted-uncertain prospects, an uncharted course, the complex art world, or even just the impossible passage across that expanse of cheek between the nose and ear. I pick up my palette and keep traveling”.
Watwood has earned many awards⏩, including the:
  • Elizabeth Greensheilds Foundation Grant;
  • International Portrait Competition Honor Award (2011) PSof A;
  • irst Place in the Members Only Competition “Outside the Box” (2016) PSof A;
  • The James Amster Award from the National Arts Club;
  • Recognition as a Art Renewal Center “Living Master”;
  • ARC finalist and honor awards in their annual salons.
Watwood earned her MFA in figurative art with Honors from New York Academy of Art, and studied with Jacob Collins⏩ as a founding member of the Water Street Atelier.


Her teachers include Martha Erlebacher, Steven Assael, Vincent Desiderio and Ted Seth Jacobs. Watwood has been an adjunct professor of drawing at New York Academy of Art, has given lectures and workshops across the country, and is a featured art instructor with Craftsy.com.
She has written articles for American Artist, American Arts Quarterly, and Fine Art Connoisseur; and published in academic anthologies on criticism, like the TRAC Conference publication.






She has produced two art instructional DVDs: Creating Portrait from Life: Patricia Watwood, with Streamline Art Videos; and Figure Painting: Realistic Skin Tone with Patricia Watwood, with Interweave Press.
Born and raised in St. Louis, she lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and daughters.










Patricia Watwood 1971 | American Figurative painter