Patrick Saunders is an award-winning artist traveling the world creating fine art, teaching painting workshops, and judging painting competitions. Patrick paints a variety of subjects, including portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, and florals.After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute, Patrick spent a decade as an artist at Hallmark Cards before returning to KCAI to accept a faculty position teaching illustration, painting, animation, and web design. His students voted to honor Patrick with an Educator of the Year award. Teaching led to a job offer in advertising, where, as a Group Creative Director, Patrick led teams of marketing professionals in New York, San Francisco, and globally, producing advertising for clients such as Colgate-Palmolive, Whole Foods, Hill’s Pet Food, FedEx, Revlon, Southwest Airlines, Tom’s of Maine, Nextel, Skyy, Kashi, and Kellogg’s.Throughout his career, Patrick has been recognized for outstanding work, earning awards from the American Advertising Federation, the International Academy of the Visual Arts, the Web Marketing Association, the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Oil Painters of America, and the Portrait Society of America. He was first featured by Southwest Art Magazine in 2000 as one of their 21 Artists to Watch Under 31, and has twice been the cover artist for and featured in Southwest Art, in September 2018 and in December 2020. He received a gold medal from the Oil Painters of America in 2020. Patrick was a featured artist in the June 2021 issue of Western Art Collector magazine.In 2013, Patrick began plein air painting, and has won awards at every major plein air event in the country, including Plein Air Easton, the Laguna, Olmsted and Maui Plein Air Painting Invitationals, Lighthouse Plein Air, Sedona Plein Air, Plein Air Texas, and Plein Air Richmond. He was featured in Plein Air Magazine in 2018.Patrick is a Master Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America and a Signature Member of the Portrait Society of America. He is represented by Hindes Fine Art in San Antonio, Texas.Specialties: Creative and Strategic Thought Leadership, Integrated Marketing Communication Development, Creative Team Leadership and Management, Strong Written, Oral and Visual Communication Skills, Website Design, Strategic Online Campaign Development, Art Direction, Illustration, Graphic Design, iPhone Application Concept Development, Social Media, Buzz Marketing/Word of Mouth, Branding and Identity, Online Marketing, Client Communication