Chasing the Rain: Drawings by Elizabeth Patterson

Elizabeth Patterson is a rare Angelino.  She welcomes the rain. 

For Ms. Patterson, grey skies are harbingers of creative kindling for her dazzling colored pencil and graphite drawings.  From the relative security of her driver’s side window, Patterson documents rain soaked Los Angeles vistas.  Then, working from her photographs, the artist puts pencil to paper and conjures LA’s glistening, rain-splattered streets in mesmerizing detail.

Ventura Boulevard at Laurel Terrace, 6PM, Mulholland Drive, #5, Colorado Boulevard at 3PM, the titles tell us everything.  The pictures remind us of the peculiar nostalgia, or perhaps even tenderness, brought on by the moisture infused skies shot through with a hint of sun or the sheen of a rain drenched highway at night.  In these compositions, we are all in the driver’s seat, all equally vulnerable to flow of traffic, weather and the particular, private emotion of our day.

All of this is accomplished with a display of flat-out extraordinary technique.  In each and every drawing, without ever calling attention to the prodigious skill required to produce them, Patterson delivers images that confound our eyes and our expectations.  In these meticulous renderings, believing is truly in the seeing.