On your way to the game store in your local shopping mall, you glance at this week's display in the exhibit area. It's arts and crafts show items, so you keep walking. Hold it! That's a dragon--a fantasy piece. In fact, it's worth stopping and looking at. Wow, those colors are really neat, and the artist is good. Let's see, who is the artist? P. D. Breeding - never heard of him. Not at your mall, you say. Probably not, even if you live in the Texas area where the artist resides. It does, however, give you an indication of the general reaction when people first encounter Pat Breeding's work. She is a fantasy artist who has just started to exhibit at fantasy and science fiction conventions. "I started in a local Austin gallery, then I competed in art shows, art and craft exhibits for the most part 'real world' things. There would be 400 landscape painters, cowboy painters, macrame designers, tissue box decoraters, quiltmakers and me. Somebody would go by and say, 'Damn Martha, that's a dragon! But you know, it would look real good in the family room." Pat Breeding's artistic talent appeared at an early age when she drew the dinosaurs that fascinated her. Her art still reflects things that intrigue her, though today, the subjects are as likely to be characters in her mind from the universe of Dragalorn as they are to be fantastic creatures such as dragons and unicorns. Breeding's training is in both art and theater. She grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where she went to school and received a degree from Rockford College. "My major was art, but I wasn't happy with the prevailing art philosophy being taught. I changed to theater and was active in the local shows. When I finished, I worked in a Crystal Lake gallery as a framer, kept painting, wrote and directed two shows at the local theater." After she moved to Austin, Breeding continued to paint and experimented with some new techniques. A took some of my work to a local gallery owned by Pat Williamson for framing. The gallery was impressed with my work, and asked if I had more. When I said I did, they asked if I would be interested in doing a show. That year, I did three shows. I sold everything I painted that year. I've been selling fine fantasy art ever since. It's challenging, often frightening, but I've always managed." Displaying at places like renaissance fairs taught Breeding to deal with unusual problems -- sealing frames against bugs, for instance. Security problems are also present, "It's nice to know the thieves who stole six of your paintings have good taste, but it doesn't get them returned." And this year, tornadoes. Her career as an artist, involving the amount of travel it does, doesn't leave any time for directing. Besides, I don't know how to pace myself in theater at all. I've learned to pace myself in the art field. There's always another show, always another piece of art to be done." While directing may be ruled out for now, writing isn't. Breeding has been busy collecting notes and writing up a fantasy universe since 1972. The universe of Dragalorn has been mentally under construction even longer. She's busy peopling it with "good, solid characters." Her characters' personalities are often at odds with their appearance, lacking many of the preconceptions that most of us have. Many of Breeding's paintings are examples of this fascination with "visual contradictions" and are portraits of the characters in her universe. "I use the visual contradictions to evoke emotion. I like to show nasty, gnarly creatures, but they're being nice. Then I'll show cute creatures being nasty. Art should touch people emotionally. There are a lot of really good technicians but they're not good artists. Their art is interesting but cold." In April, Breeding was guest artist at Aggie Con. "It was the first time I was a guest artist. There were a lot of people saying things like, where did you come from? Meaning, since I don't know you, who do you know that got you here, it's not a question of who I know. It's just a question of being very good at what I do." Breeding credits her family and the support they've given her over the years for helping to maintain her unique outlook. Her mother posed for a piece called the Dragon Queen. The queen is a rather nasty villainess. Not only was she not insulted, she had a button made up saying, "Be nice. I am the Dragon Queen" and wore it around the convention when the picture was on display. Breeding is planning to find more science fiction and fantasy conventions to exhibit her work. She's also continuing to update her universe looking for new ways to combine her art and writing, Breeding is currently talking to a publisher about writing her universe, Dragalorn, as a series of books, and a book of poetry. She is also discussing a graphic novel on Dragalorn with a comic book publisher. The poetry collection would feature character poems, and is titled Dragons Don't Eat Virgins, life does that very well. The poems are, "books with poetry with character." The graphic novel, entitled Dragalorn, is due to be published this fall. The book series would have the same title as the graphic novel. It is a major novel of the universe and its people and is planned with smaller volumes covering other aspects of Dragalorn. Lately, she's combined her writing with her art work by including short phrases on the canvas. "I've already done a piece featuring Rondo the Wandering Mage, that incorporated some of these (verses) and really liked (the effect)." So, you won't see her art at your local mall. But look at the next science fiction or fantasy convention, just in case. Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #6 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy. 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