Pat Cranor is a California native now residing in the San Diego Area. He still remembers the day he wanted to become an artist-the day he won his first art award in the sixth grade. After a successful career as an advertising agency art director, in 1986 Pat moved to Japan. There he developed his own oriental style with watercolors. He created striking, colorful, and culture-clashing scenes as viewed by a foreigner.

    With the birth of his first child, Pat painted a series of animals designed for his son’s nursery.  Child-development experts suggested that bright colors and repeated images were beneficial to a baby’s development, so Pat applied this knowledge by developing a style of taking one image, repeating it, and putting it into the composition. Upon returning to the United States, Pat started painting full-time and took his warm and humorous “animals” to the streets and into the greeting card market. His illustrated cards can be found in gallery and gift shops across the country, from the Smithsonian in Washington D. C., and the United Nations Center in New York to the San Diego Zoo and the Long Beach Aquarium, as well as many other stores and boutiques. 

    From 2000 to 2010, Pat developed his wonderful work with mixed media on wooden tiles. He uses acrylic and metallic paints on square hand-painted wooden tiles, grouped, and mounted on a frame less beveled edged wood panel to form a finished work of art.  

    Now Pat’s paintings are abstract expressionistic in style and inspired by the rural desert and ocean shores of California. He uses a multi-step process that begins with a dry brush painted background. Next, he combines airbrushed acrylic and metallic paints with solvents and liquids. Layers are repeated until a finished piece of art is achieved. His work is in a constant state of evolution-every step is not only an opportunity to learn more about his techniques and materials, but an act of self-realization. Each piece is an original work of art with color being the primary focus.

    Abstract Expressionism incorporates many different styles emphasizing spontaneous personal expression that is nonrepresentational and chiefly improvisational. The goal is a subjective expression of the artist's inner experiences and while abstract it is also emotional in its effect.