Pratima Rao is an artist from Holmdel, New Jersey. Her art has been praised as filled with color and light, capturing the feel of a place with an unmistakable style and unique viewpoint. She has been involved with plein air painting in the US and abroad during trips to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, India, and Europe. Pratima has been juried into national plein air events and her works have been included in a number of shows and collected by patrons across the country.

Pratima has always had a passion for art, taking advantage of every creative opportunity that came her way. Initially, she chose to pursue an engineering career at AT&T Bell Laboratories. After 18 years of a flourishing career in telecom, in 2005, Pratima decided to return to her original passion and couldn’t be happier with her decision!

Pratima enjoys painting landscapes in oil on location, exploring the effects of light in particular while dealing with the challenges painting outdoors brings. She feels that Plein air paintings have a vitality of their own because they capture the feeling of the scene quickly, with the atmosphere conveyed through color notes that would otherwise be impossible to capture. She then uses her outdoors studies to paint larger landscapes in the studio.

Inspired by masters like Sargent and Sorolla she believes that gaining a solid and unwavering knowledge of the fundamentals of art along with the experience of painting from life is invaluable in creating good work.

When not painting, Pratima enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter and son.

Education:
B.S, M.S. (Physics)

Pratima’s art training over the last 10 years includes classes with local teachers as well as various studio and plein air workshops and demonstrations with well known American artists such as Don Goetz, Judy Wagner, Tony Van Hasselt, Staats Fasoldt, Tom Hughes, Frank Federico and most recently with Scott Powers, Richard Mckinley Scott Christensen, Ken Backhaus, and Kevin Macpherson.

Galleries:
Design Domain Gallery in Bernardsville, NJ
Fredrick Gallery in Spring Lake, NJ

Associations:
Oil Painters of America (OPA) (Associate Member)
American Impressionist Society (AIS) (Associate Member)
Plein air painters of the Jersey Coast (PAPJC) (Artist Member)
The Guild of Creative art in Shrewsbury, NJ (Exhibiting Member)

Paint Outs:
September 2011 – North Bennington Paint Out, Bennington, VT – National      Event – Juried entry
July 2011 - Cranford 'Paint the town' plein air event, Cranford, NJ - National      Event - Juried entry
June 2010 - Cranford 'Paint the town' plein air event, Cranford, NJ - National      Event - Juried entry
May 2010 – Wayne Art Center Plein Air Festival, Wayne, PA – National Event –      Was Juried in but could not participate
July 2009 – Spring Lake garden tour, Spring Lake, NJ
May 2008, 2009 – Rumson Garden tour, Rumson, NJ
September 2008, 2009 – Bayonet farm arts and music festival, Holmdel, NJ