Welcome to the studio of Patti Lyman — contemporary American artist crafting luminous abstract landscapes about home, migration, motherhood and belonging. Originals, prints, commissions and joyful, fearless workshops.
For almost three decades I have painted the same question in a thousand different colors: what does home feel like when you carry it inside you?
My work sits between abstraction and landscape — sun-bleached mesas, winter rivers, kitchen-table still lifes, maps drawn from memory rather than geography. I build surfaces in layers: acrylic washes, oil sticks, hand-stitched canvas, vintage letters, desert sand and ash. Then I sand, scrape and wash it all back until only the essential glow remains.
Collectors tell me my paintings feel like “a place you’ve never been but instantly miss.” That’s the highest compliment. I grew up between the Midwest and the Southwest, raised by a quilter mother and a geologist father — so pattern and strata are literally in my DNA. I studied painting and art history, worked as a scenic artist, taught in public schools, raised three kids at the studio table, and never stopped painting through it all.
I take 8-10 commissions per year. From family homesteads to wedding palettes to memorial pieces — we co-create a color story from your photos, letters and memories. Timeline 6-10 weeks, starting at $1,800.
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No shortcuts. Just layers, light and letting go.
Walks, photos, old maps, fabric scraps, your stories. Every painting starts as a shoebox of memories.
Thin acrylic washes flood the canvas. I let gravity and accident decide the first composition.
Collage, oil stick, sand, stitching. 7-15 layers. I paint, then obscure, then reveal.
The painting sits for days. I sand it back at dawn — when the light tells the truth — and varnish only when it hums.
— Patti on materials. Watch full studio tour and 12 time-lapse films in the journal. Learn my 5-color limited palette that mixes 90% of my work, why I never use black straight from the tube, and how to varnish without losing glow.
Mix color like a poet. Destroy the fear of mud. 200+ demos, personal critiques, giant collaborative canvas. All levels. Includes handmade sketchbook and pigment kit. Next: Oct 2026 + Jan 2027.
My signature online course. Turn family photos and places you love into 5 finished abstract landscapes. Weekly live paint-alongs, private community, 1:1 review. 3,200+ alumni, 4.9★ average.
Exhibitions, process films, color recipes and honest talk about the artist life. Updated weekly from the studio table.
Subscribe below and I’ll send you my 5-color palette guide + first studio letter.
Provenance, process videos, framing tips, early access to drops. Galleries and first-time buyers read it to understand pricing, care and story behind each series.
Originals sell in hours. Join 18,000 readers — one thoughtful letter per Sunday, no spam.
Commissions for fall 2026 are now open (3 spots left). Gallery inquiries, workshop scholarships, press and studio visits — I read every note personally.