DIY Del Ray: Studio Tour with Local Painter Patricia Uchello

Who's to say a painter needs a big space when a small-space studio can work just fine. For Alexandria-based artist Patricia Uchello, an 8-by-10-foot room in her home works perfectly well as her painting studio. All she really requires is her easel, oil paints, palette and room for placing still-life objects. Of course, she brings a great deal of talent, dedication and skill into the mix as well.

Patricia is a successful and prolific painter who displays her work permanently at A Show of Hands in Del Ray and in four other galleries in the surrounding area at present. You can see her complete exhibition list on her website.

She uses her space smartly. She says that a painter has "automatic storage" for completed paintings: the walls! At times, she has original art hanging in every room in the house, even the laundry room. In her studio, she often hangs wet paintings on the walls to dry in a safe place.

She also installed mirrored sliding glass closet doors in her studio so she can view her paintings backward. This way, she reveals hidden flaws. In the small space, since she can't back up very far, this is a trick that helps her gain distance and objective views. Clever, eh?

While Patricia uses oil paints almost exclusively, her subject matter ranges from portraits and still lives to landscapes and streetscapes. She’s inspired by Dutch painters like Johannes Vermeer who, she says, “reflect their milieu with objects and scenes that spoke to their era,” and with the hyperrealism of Edward Hopper.

She also likes to express a sense of humor as in her painting of a sea otter wearing a turtleneck.

Patricia often works from photos like this collage from Carmel Mission in Carmel, Calif. She's often on the go, visiting her family in New Orleans, her home town, and traveling around the United States.

Patricia also emulates the style of American painter Wayne Thibaud who painted contemporary objects as she has done in her still life of a purse and lipstick. She's been known to bake a cherry pie, paint a slice of it, and then eat it when she's done.

Patricia surrounds herself while she's working with both inspirational images and paintings she’s still finishing. She says all painting stems from a solid background in drawing, pointing to a self-portrait in pencil that she drew in school when she was 19.

After I visited Patricia’s studio in an upstairs bedroom of her home, we toured the collection of paintings she has hung in other rooms. Some of the paintings she keeps because she loves them so much so that she won’t sell them or they’ve become family heirlooms. Others she hasn’t yet sold and will soon exhibit.

Patricia’s home is such an elegant setting for her paintings and a reflection of her exuberant personality that we talked about the possibility of her having an open house or exhibit there. 

For the complete studio tour, visit DIY Del Ray.