About

Patricia Adams, Graphic Designer

THE FIFTIES

My first introduction to art was my mother…who was an artist and used to draw princesses for my sister and me, basically whenever we asked.  I can remember her teaching us to draw eyes and mouths….We later lived in France and it seemed art was all around me.  We traveled extensively through Europe and if there was a museum, we walked through it…as well about every cathedral! That’s me on the left, in Paris with my brother and sister, in about 1956.  We used to go to Paris once a month, the whole family. Not a bad weekend getaway!

France was an amazing trip and I managed to get back to Europe two more times, as hippie hitchhiker, but at least I was there. It seemed to me that everything was beautiful in Europe, little towns, full of flowers, lovely buildings, pretty people…definitely where I want to retire….have computer, can work anywhere!

THE SIXTIES

The Sixties, my formative years, Kerouac, On the Road, hitchhike, hitchhike baby, blue jean baby queen, rock’n'roll, if you can’t be with the one you love, let the good times roll…psychedelic, Foxy Lady, very very colorful, art nouveau—Mucha’s Job posters……need I say more?

THE SEVENTIES

The seventies were good years—hitchhiking through Europe in 1972 (last time was 1967), then I worked as a taxi driver and then ten years as a freelance photographer for the Tabloids in South Florida.  Great Job–the National Enquirer in the seventies was a world of of it’s own, believe me! I was there when Elvis died and we paid one of the “Memphis Mafia” $2500 to shoot a picture of Elvis in his casket…we gave him a teeny wee little camera…Real proof Elvis is dead? Hmm

Even when driving a taxi, however, I was still into art…and crafts. Artist just have to do art, it is a law of the universe, or something…now photography is definitely an art…I found I had no spirit for traditional news photography, I wanted to make artsy photos, like a beautiful oriental woman washing her face with raw emeralds…now that was a picture! We shot it with her sitting in a baby pool in my back yard (I had to borrow one, no children!) with a hose hanging through a tree right in front of her.  She would scoop up the emeralds, and throw them against her face as if she was washing…then scoop them up and do it again.  In retrospect, I don’t know why they didn’t scratch her face.  But they didn’t.

In the Seventies, I also finally made it to San Francisco…the hippie who came ten years to late!  It was a great year, and a great city…I made my living (sort of) with freelance photography, but mostly had the time of my life. From there, back to South Beach.

The attached magazine article was from a short lived magazine in West Palm Beach…the top is me, the bottom is my sister (right) and her best friend, angsting over boys! My first photo job for the National Enquirer was some scandal (I forgot what) about aspirins.  I bought several bottles, artistically placed them on my bathroom counter, spilled a few out and shot some photos.  I made $50 and thought groovy, this is for me. And that is what I did for ten years….I also worked for the Globe and National Examiner and in the early eighties I was photo editor of the National Examiner for over a year.  Interesting job…its funny, I tend to remember those days from the scandals that were going on!  During this period someone put poison in an Tylenol capsule in a store and someone bought it and died.  They actually opened a container for sale and dropped in poison.  This is when they put the tamper proof on bottles, almost overnight. So I got to shoot another aspirin shot, this type on black cloth, with capsules sprawling out next to a open container, and one open capsule with the powder spilling out.  Very artistic, dontcha’ know!

Oh, Also Prince Andrew got into a scandal with a stripper called Koo Stark. I can remember calling all over the world trying to buy a picture of them together!  Money is no option when a scandal strikes.

THE EIGHTIES

Where was I? oh, eighties…OK, that is when I started writing and became a writer for the tabloids, rather than a photographer…I moved from South  Beach to Lake Worth, Florida and settled into writing jobs. Later,  I was the only white writer (ever) for a black newspaper in Jacksonville…that was a cool job, also. There was a lot going on in Jacksonville in late eighties and early nineties. Busing resurfaced as an issue, as did police discrimination. Also, the late seventies and early eighties were great Disco Dancing days.  I was on my out to the Forge in South Beach in this picture…about 1979……ah, the good old days.

THE NINETIES

Nineties were another type of creating.  I had three children in the late eighties and all my attention was on them.  I went to college when they were in middle school and you see the result on this website.

All those years of art, crafts, sewing (I forgot to mention I had several sewing businesses in the sixties and seventies creating clothes), photography and writing led to this job, this absolutely perfect and wonderful job.  Graphic Artist.  Freelance. Lucky me…

BE HERE NOW

Now, those skills I developed over the years (my best friend, Margaret, calls them my bag of tricks!) are used on a daily basis in the creation process of my graphics.  I love the fifties retro art (I was there) I love Art Deco, specially South Beach Deco and love Rock’ n’ Roll…

Add France, my mothers Pennsylvania Dutch painted furniture, and you can see why color, whimsy, rhythm and retro describes my style.

However, I like to think I can draw about anything, any style…try me….

… and so, finally…. here I am….TA-DA!