Born in central New Jersey and raised in southeast Pennsylvania in "Wyeth country," Patrick Kitson, by age 22, was exhibiting his wildlife art at the Prestige Gallery in Ontario, Canada with modern masters Carl Brenders, John Seerey-Lester, and Robert Bateman.

Early influences were neighbors Donald DeLue, a sculptor of monumental bronzes, painter F Travers Neidlinger, and illustrator Peter Carras. In his words, Kitson began his career as a "studio rat" and these artists with whom he trained encouraged him to go to art school. He attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and then traveled widely for subject matter, especially in Yellowstone National Park. His style for his panoramic landscapes has been compared to that of the Hudson River School of painters.

His studio is in Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania, where he has a view of rolling hills, lakes, and wildlife.

Patrick Kitson possesses what has been described as a 'remarkably accomplished technique', which is even more astonishing given his relative youth. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1970, Kitson as a child was fortunate enough to have three professional artists maintaining their studios as immediate neighbors and teachers.

His art training began at nine years old with these three -- Donald DeLue, F. Travers Neidlinger, and Peter Carras - and culminated in his later decision to become an artist in his own right. Kitson's subsequent training was at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and he had his first gallery showing just one month after graduation.

Kitson's oil paintings are known for their minute detail, which he achieves with meticulous brushwork based on an understanding of values of light and shade as they occur in our everyday observation of the natural world. Thus, he may convince us that he has painted a tree virtually leaf by leaf, but this sense of extreme verisimilitude is in large measure a result of his understanding of the volume -- the underlying form and structure -- of the tree as sculpted by sunlight and shadow.

This brushwork and sense of volume paradoxically leads us first to the texture of the natural world of vegetation and animals, and then somehow through or beyond texture to the spirit of the place: or as Kitson himself puts it, "to the living and breathing world that is not evident at first glance."

Patrick Kitson lives and maintains his studio in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania.