Location: United States
Did you ever wonder what makes an artist tick? Every artist is probably ticking in their own unique way. As for me, I see Wow moments and Aha moments that are beautiful, peaceful, truthful, and satisfying. I remember these and I want to paint them. They make sense.
There are other things involved inside me, like color. I have always loved colors. Maybe because my mother pointed them out. Then there is rhythm. Music and dance are at the top for me. There is also scenery. That involves our ranch, which I love. The cattle, the pastures, the river, the hills, the family; it's all connected.
Ultimately I create out of love. Love for something I see or instinctively know is beautiful. A wonder I can never completely and accurately depict, while there is a striving to keep trying and to perfect.
Maybe you believe God and love are the same thing. To me they are the force behind my Wow and Aha moments. And that is what drives me to paint.
My background is straight forward. I grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon. My father was a lawyer, my mother stayed home with my sister and me. My mother always kept art supplies in front of us and encouraged us to draw. We learned to play the piano and to dance. I had an art teacher in high school who taught me to focus and to lose myself in a painting. He matted my paintings, displayed them, and got a Hallmark art scholarship for me.
When I went to college, my father thought I should have a better paying career than art would deliver, so I went to the University of Arizona and majored in Business Economics. That was all good, but being on the water ballet team was more fun, the sun on the Arizona mountains impressive, the bright Mexican colors an artist in Tucson used, daring.
I met my husband at my sister's wedding at the end of my third year in college. He was big, strong and handsome. We married and had five children. I didn't paint a whole lot, while the children were young, but I sure did enjoy raising them.
In 1978 we bought a cattle ranch in Fields, Oregon. The scenery was spectacular. I began painting again. The children gave me a camera. I began to photograph. Postcards and greeting cards later became a result.
In 1987 I had a horse accident on our ranch while moving some cattle. So my focus had to change. I couldn't do all the things I did before, but I could do a lot of things, and one of them was art. I started first with pen and ink, then water color crayons, followed by painting with acrylics and a brush.
My past came back to haunt me in a good way. I remembered the colors and the rhythms, and landscapes...the big sky's, the cherished trees in a wide open field, the hills and mountains. I began to see them in a thankful and dancing, rhythmic light.
I have over the years shown and sold photographs, cards, postcards, paintings and a small book, through stores and galleries in Boise, Idaho, Hillsboro, Portland, Bend and Burns, Oregon. My work is currently featured in Xanadu Studios and in the Sisters Gallery and Frame Shop.
My husband and I bought another ranch in 1992 at Riverside, Oregon. Our children have all graduated from college and married. One of our sons along with his wife and three children ranch with us. I have a desk with art supplies for all of our grand children, and I am painting.
- Pat Siegner
One day coming home from Vale along the river, I saw rthe most beautiful sight. It seemed like I was seeing a symphony of music. I imagined the trees were all different stringed instruments,,the rocks could be the drums, the river might be the piano, so I later had to paint it. This painting is acrylic and 18x24. Price $1500.
One day coming home in the Fall along the river I saw the most harmonious, rhythmic bright sight as if even the trees were part of a symphony. So of course, I had to paint it!
Spring is very welcome here at the ranch in high desert country! Acrylic, 12x12. Price $400.
Trees are far and few between here on our ranch. We live in high desert country in eastern Orego;. The Russian Olive trees are especially beautiful to me. They are standouts on the landscape, so I named this painting, Precious. It is acrylic and 12x12. Price $400.
Here in the high desert, we have vast skies and spectacular lights. Often just one particular object will be highlighted. It seems to be lit up and warmed up to me. I try to speculate why, and can only reason the light is indiscriminate and unconditional. It is representative of love to me. This painting is acrylic and 18x24. Price $1500.
One day I looked out in our corrals at the mulberry tree. It looked dismayed at the prospect of the upcoming winter. So I had to paint it. It is acrylic and 20x24. $1600.
Driving to Burns one winter day I saw a sight that made me happy. Here were bright yellow-orange willows against a dark blue sky. To me that was just as good as a smile on a cold day. I remembered it and painted it later. It is acrylic and 18x24. Price $1500.
In the summer, the river below us may get very shallow, like wading across shallow. When our grandchildren were very young, they liked to spend hours playing in the river, finding pretty rocks, and just generally getting wet all over. I loved going down there with them. Ever since, the river crossing is special to me..so of course I had to paint it. This is an acrylic painting, size 18x24. Price $1500.
Juniper trees have never been very hIgh on my list. Around here, often they can look very scruffy and not very important. That is at least to me. Well one day as I was driving home from Vale, right in front of me were three scruffy junipers highlighted on a hill side. They didn’t look scruffy in the light, and they did look important. I had to laugh as those junipers had proved me wrong, so I had to paint them. This is an acrylic painting, size 16x20. Price $1200.
When looking out our window here at the ranch, I can see an old shed and horses. Sometimes the mountains are very bright and sometimes the sky can be very dark. Whatever I see gives me a simple peace, and I have to paint it. Size 16x20 acrylic. Price $1200.
Driving along the way to Vale, I see vivid brown and gold hills. They make vivid patterns and shapes to my eyes. The colors are so vivid I have to paint it. Size 18x24 acrylic. Price $1500.
Early in the morning here on the ranch a mountain will be all lit up. It seems like it is singing joyously hallelujah. So I had to paint it. Acrylic 18x24. Price $1500.
In the winter on our ranch when the river below us freezes over it has a rhythm all its own. The river peaks out of the ice and back again forming a pattern, kind of like a song. Acrylic size 18x24. Price $1900.
It is the necessary tree because there are so few trees in the cow pastures. The cow can scratch her back on the trunk and limbs. The tree provides shade that she can lay under to rest. The cow feels she has found a real treasure. Acrylic paint, 18x24 inches. $1500.
“Symphony along the river”
“Sunshine And Spring”
“Precious”
“Lit Up And Warmed Up”
“The Mulberry Tree”
“A Smile On A cold Day”
“Down By The River Crossing”
“Three Scruffy Junipers”
“A Simple Peace”
“On the way to Vale”
“Hallelujah ”
“Winter Rhythm of the Winter”
“The Necessary Tree”
