Meet Patty Rodgers

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Patty Rodgers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Patty below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Patty with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

My work ethic comes from my parents. They were both blue collar workers in a small New England city. I learned to work hard for everything I have. They grew up at the end of the great depression era and learned to save money and things. That’s how I ended up on Cape Cod. They saved money to buy a summer home.
In high school I spent my summers working as a chambermaid in hotels there. I used that money to buy expensive oil paints and art lessons with a local artist. At that art school, we worked from 9 to 12, took a break for lunch then worked from 2 to 4. It was great, painting all day.
Even before that, I learned to work hard at playing guitar. I started at age 9 and was required to practice 30 minutes every day.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Of three things, painting, guitar playing, and acting, I focus mostly on my art first. I am always thinking about it. I look at light and spaces so almost anything can be the subject. Most of my work centers on interior scenes with still life objects, combined with landscapes. They incorporate elements of hard-edge painting and color field painting. I am getting interested in the space of my backyard at our new house to which we moved in late August. The pool with its geometric shapes and the water reflections are attracting me. I expect to participate in “The Other Art Fair”, Dallas, this year. I haven’t decided if it will be Spring or Fall.

I recently joined the “Radiant Guitar Ensemble” affiliated with University of Texas at Dallas. It is comprised of about ten classical guitarists currently. We are preparing for a concert in Spring of 2026. I spend an hour a day practicing the ensemble music as well as my own music for other places, like the Wine Therapist in Dallas, and Boba Tea in Richardson, also at open plays with the Allegro guitar Society.

My third enterprise is doing auditions as a commercial actor. I got into this by being scouted on Instagram. I am now represented by Exxcel Model and Talent and spend time taking acting lessons and trying to nail my first gig.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Three areas of knowledge that helped me were knowing art history, good English vocabulary, and reading music.
If young people want to be an artist, they should spend a lot of time in museums and art galleries, looking, taking notes, sketching, thinking, using what they’ve learned.
In college, to improve my vocabulary, I read classic novels at night before going to sleep. If I ran into a word I didn’t know, I looked it up and kept a notebook with definitions. Believe me, no matter what field you are in, a command of words helps you rather than peppering your sentences with profanity as I hear so often.
If you want to be a musician, learn to read music. A few geniuses can do without. (I give lessons by the way).

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I used to play classical guitar music with a violinist. I would love to connect with such a person, or a flutist, to play at wedding ceremonies. Anyone who would like to connect can reach me at [email protected]
I would also love to collaborate with a local brick and mortar gallery. Even though I sell most of my work on-line, having a gallery represent my work in this area would be nice.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Patty Rodgers

Studio One, Dallas

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