Winter 2023

56 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 3 W hen Patricia Qualls enters her Carmel Valley Village studio to paint, “I feel like I’m entering my sanctuary,” she says. Painting is her second career act; she was previously a full- time clinical psychologist.“I needed to do something to lighten up a bit, to nurture my creative side. Painting became my spiritual practice; it was like offering prayers.” Her background informs her painting, best defined as abstract expres- sionism, and it comes from her soul—what Qualls calls “painting the fire in one’s belly. I paint the things I feel and have gone through—the light, the dark, the hills, the valleys.”To do so, she enters a state that allows her to channel those feelings through her brushes and onto her large-scale canvases. She knows the signs,“When I find myself playing with my hair in a particular way, my mind has shifted,” she says. “I know: ‘OK. This is it.’” She’s learned to trust the process. “It’s got a mind of its own. I just let the work be born the way it wants to be.” Qualls believes that artists have a responsibility to reflect the ups and downs of society. “The ability to express things with color and big brush strokes and little strokes feels like such a unique privilege that can’t be wasted.” For more information, visit www.patriciaqualls.com . — Michael Chatfield ART I ST PROF I L E Patricia Qualls Photo: Kelli Uldall