Patricia Akay (B. 1927) American, Watercolor. Impressionist watercolor painting of people picnicking by the shore. Signed in the lower right. 

Overall Size: 29 1/2 x 37 1/2 in. 

Sight Size: 21 x 19 in. 

#2717 . 

Patricia Akay was born in Oakland, California in 1927. As a child she began scribbling in her parents books with crayon. Rather than reprimanding her, they recognized her ability and got pads and pencils for her instead. By the time she finished high school she was already experimenting in watercolors and oils, and went to UC Berkeley, where she met and married Kenan Azim Akay, a Turkish immigrant studying electrical engineering. She continued her education at the California College of the Arts, graduating in 1949 and spending one more year honing her skills in classes at the Academy of Arts in San Francisco. While Kenan was sent around the globe as a consultant for Pacific Gas & Electric, Patricia spent nearly a decade teaching art at Oakland Junior High School. She eventually began offering private lessons in her home, as well as watercolor workshops in Carmel each summer. Although she was represented by several galleries at this point, she also ran her own in Burlingame for seven years, simply called “The Gallery.” A trip to Europe to visit her husband turned into a five-year odyssey, as she visited numerous countries and developed an Impressionist style by painting en plein air. In 1999 she and her husband settled permanently in Sonoma, California, where she became a member of the Society of Western Artists. After her husband died in 2012 she officially retired from painting, but still occasionally works on commission and contributes individual pieces to the Art Guild of Sonoma, particularly captivated by the vineyards and the view of San Pablo Bay.