Flanders Receives Artist’s Donation

WOODBURY — Michael Remington Patterson has given Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust a painting that showcases traditional farm life. The work, a pastel on handmade paper entitled “Turning the Soil,” depicts a farmer and a team of horses plowing a field at the nature center.

Mr Patterson will be the featured artist of this year’s Four Seasons of Flanders Benefit Auction and Dinner, to be held October 23 at the Southbury Hilton. His painting will be reproduced on the covers of the event’s invitation and catalog, and it will be for sale during the live auction.

A native of Hudson, N.Y., who currently resides in Roxbury, Michael Patterson has traveled and painted extensively in the United States and abroad. Inspired by his grandfather, the noted artist Howard Ashman Patterson, he began to paint at an early age. His art reached another level after he moved to Paris, where he lived and worked for three years.

The farming scene is a departure for Mr Patterson, whose past subjects have included sun-drenched beach scenes and rainy cityscapes.

 “I was surprised at how well it worked — the ground opened out like it was butter. I made some action drawings and sketches, which will also be available at the auction, then added other elements to create the finished piece.”

The donated works of art will be on exhibit September 14 to October 12 at Carole Peck’s Good News Café in Woodbury, with an artists’ reception planned for Sunday, September 19. For information contact Flanders Nature Center, 203-263-3711.