Patricia Cullen Raine (formerly Patricia Cullen Clark) has been an artist, writer, musician, and sometime filmmaker for most of her life — and a free-lance illustrator/graphic designer for over 30 of those years.
Among her first influences as an impressionable young artist were the luminous paintings of prolific illustrators N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham, Maxfield Parrish, Jessie Wilcox Smith and the confident pen, ink and graphite drawings of Aubrey Beardsley, Thomas Nast, Charles Dana Gibson, Albrecht Durer and Gustave Dore. Patricia went on to study Fine Arts, Physiology and Music at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and squeaked through to earn her BFA.
Early in her career, Patricia flew across the Pacific to the Island of Guam (as then-wife of a Navy Jet-pilot), where she became a roving reporter/illustrator for the By-the-Seat-Of-Your-Pants Pacific Daily News, a Gannett newspaper serving Guam and the Marianas Island chain.
Working with editors John Walter and Linda Kauss (later with USA Today), Patricia, under her byline, wrote daily human interest articles and monthly, in-depth feature stories. She also began to develop her pen & ink caricature style (influenced by the impeccable David Levine of The New York Times) while depicting pesky local politicos. After her stint at the paper, Patricia then joined lively Banyan House Advertising (the first Ad Agency on the island). Under the tutelage of the brilliant, intuitive owner and designer, Steve Hodge, she contributed her skills as a designer, illustrator, copywriter and jingle writer/performer for clients that included Hilton Hotels and Mobil Oil.
Upon returning to the U.S., Patricia continued her work in full-time and scrappy free-lance capacities as a designer/illustrator and assistant Art Director for major associations.
She soon focused exclusively on free-lance book, editorial and institutional illustration (& design).
Collaborating with the witty and ever-encouraging Senior Editor and Art Director, Edwin Taylor (formerly with The London Times), Patricia produced pen and ink caricatures for the weekly “Washington Whispers” column in U.S. News & World Report for nearly 3 years. She was signed by Editor’s Press Service Syndicate in New York to produce international political caricatures.
Under the steadying influence of Senior Editor and Art Director, Kunio Francis Tanabe, Patricia became a regular contributor to The Washington Post, specifically the Book World section. Her literary and political caricatures grace the collections of author Garrison Keillor and the families of the late Pat Conroy, Robertson Davies, Art Buchwald and Norman Cousins.
Patricia has been twice-honored by The Society of Illustrators and by several notable graphic design, illustration and print organizations. Her studio continues to thrive, with commissions for her finely-tuned portraits and caricatures, book illustrations and perceptive visual commentaries on the ever-morphing social and political scene.
To fortify the creative process, Patricia regularly plays and performs music with her gang of Bohemians. She also presents a fascinating film and talk, which chronicles her own vivid experiences with the wildly varied, multi-dimensional perception known as “synesthesia”; a condition that—as with many musical and visual artists—informs her work.