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Patricia DurJava, originally from Ohio, raised three sons, taught high school French and Spanish, and developed her life-long passion for drawing and painting.  As a member of the Lakewood Art League and particularly under the tutelage of the late Fred Leach (AWS), she developed as a watercolorist.  After graduate studies in Mexico, she added people, nature scenes, and flowers to her repertoire.  She took advantage of courses and life drawing at the Cleveland Institute of Art.  She also studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design, the Omega Institute in New York, and took a multitude of workshops offered by the Ohio Watercolor Society.  Her en plein aire flower paintings found their way into many Ohio homes.  

From 2000 through 2002 Patricia served in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa, where pen drawings recorded her activities in small business development. Upon return to the United States, she settled in Maryland where she taught languages in Montgomery County public schools. During that time and inspired by the flowers of Brookside Gardens, she painted and had printed a series of flower cards for a fund-raiser at her Ohio high school alma mater.

Now retired, Patricia is realizing her dream to invest full time in drawing and painting and is working in acrylics, collage, and watercolor. As a Resident Artist at Washington ArtWorks in Rockville, Maryland, Patricia is in a stage of artistic fusion and expansion. Her experience and training in drawing, watercolor, and acrylics has led her to a point at which she is growing both as a colorist and as a creative being in the rich environment of the ArtWorks.

Memberships

Dublin Area Art Association- Dublin, OH 43107
Friends of the Yellow Barn - Member, Bethesda, MD 2015-2016
The ArtistAngle - Frederick, Maryland 2015-2016
Montgomery Art Association (MAA) - Montgomery County, Maryland 20152016
Ohio Watercolor Society - 1997 to 2000
Lakewood Art League -  Ohio, 1975-77

Additional Artistic Contributions

Developed and taught "In Your Right Mind," a course to inspire creativity in adults.
 
Contributed paintings to St. Edward High School and Amherst High School fund raisers.

Sold paintings at the former John Harmon Gallery in Berea, Ohio.

Formal Training

  • Savannah School of Art and Design, 1995. "Colored Pencil Techniques" withTerry Seiko and watercolor – “Painting with Light," with Tim Hadfield.
  • Watercolor Workshop with Alex Powers, OWS, AWS, Mansfield, OH, 1997
  • Omega Institute, “Advanced Drawing of the Right Side of the Brain” with Linda F. Greensberg, Rhinebeck, NY 1993.
  • Cleveland Institute of Art coursework:
    • “The Sparkling Media – Watercolor Workshop with Fred Graff,  1992
    • “Life Drawing” with Robert Raack, MFA
    • “Drawing-Outside/Inside,” with Thomas Squouros, N.A, AWS, D.F.

Workshops

  • Diane Bugash, Acrylic Collage Workshop, Rockville, MD, 2010.
  • Nicholas Simmons, Watercolor Workshop, Rockville, MD, 2009.
  • Ohio Watercolor Society, "Stretching Boundaries for Creative People III":
  • Myles G. Batt,), Thomas Sguouros, N.A, AWS, FY, Ellie Heingartner, 1997.
  • Edward Reep, "The Content of Watercolor" and 1st exposure to collage, 1995
  • Lakewood Art League, Lakewood , OH
  • Fred Leach, AWS, taught watercolor for Lakewood Art League, 1975-77

Other Important Instructors

Jean Deemer, NWS, OWS  (1997)
Alex Powers, (1997
Don Getz, AWS
Joy Shott, AWS, NWS
Richard Geclke
Fred Leach, AWS, 1975-1977