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Neil Patterson, to his great joy, has discovered the magically liberating impact of colour. Dazzling reds, yellows and blues, manganese violet, sap green and cadmium orange are applied with loose, generous strokes, straight out of the tube. “It’s like going back to childhood,” he describes. “You forget about rules and just put colours next to one another.” Instead of tinting with black and white, Neil finds he can achieve a three-dimensional effect by mixing paint on the canvas so that certain areas sink behind the pure colours. Patterson believes colour is the essence of painting. He uses an impressionistic “Alla Prima” style of painting to convey his ideas through landscapes and floral in both Plein Air and studio painting.

Between 1969 and 1972, Neil studied painting at the University of Calgary. He also studied at Ted Goerschners Masters Class in California, the Scottsdale Artists' School, and Scottsdale, AZ and at the Charles Movalli Workshop. Neil Patterson was elected, in 1993, as a member of the prestigious group of intellectuals and artists known as the Salmagundi Club of New York. He has numerous awards to his credit, and has been published in several newspapers and monthly periodicals. Neil continues a history of very successful exhibitions across North America, including San Antonio, TX, Jackson, WY, New York, NY, Scottsdale, AZ, Great Falls, MT, Vancouver, BC, and Banff, Calgary and Edmonton, AB.

Neil Patterson is a member of the Alberta Society of Artists, the Federation of Canadian Artists, and the first Canadian to be awarded signature membership of the Oil Painters of America (O.P.A.). In March 2000, he was selected from a company of more than 6000 O.P.A. members to be awarded the status of Master Signature Member, becoming the 34th painter in the elite group. In the summer of 2002, Neil was awarded second place in the OPA’s 12th annual juried exhibition of traditional oils.