Patricia Hobson stands by the original copy of “Daniel Boone Crossing the Shallow Ford.”

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Art has been a part of Patricia Hobson since she was a young girl.

The self-taught artist and lifelong resident of Yadkin County has always found herself looking at the world and trying to find a way to capture it on canvas. Through her talent she has found several state honors and a peace that has allowed her to overcome many obstacles in her life.

Hobson was born in in the Courtney area of Yadkin County. Her father left the family when she was 12 years old and her mother was a teacher at the school in Courtney throughout Hobson’s childhood.

Hobson discovered her love for art at a very early age. When she was just 11 years old she created a picture of a mare and her foal using crayons and techniques she made up to add more realism to the picture. The picture earned her several honors and she would later learn that it ended up on a European tour called “Young American Art” and finally came to rest in the department archives in Raleigh.

“That piece was seen by so many people in other countries and so I’m really proud of that,” Hobson said.

While at Forbush High School, Hobson met the love of her life: Felix.

“It was kind of funny, we had never sat down and really talked but we knew each other in class and we started talking one day and I invited him over to my house and we just hit it off right away,” Hobson said. “It was like we were meant to be together.”

The couple has celebrated 41 years of marriage since then.

The couple welcomed their first child, Natalie, in 1976 and would have two more children, Nathan and Julian, by 1979.

Once she became a mother Hobson struggled to keep up with her painting because she wanted to focus her attentions on the needs of her children. She tucked her easel and paints away in a closet and gave her children her undivided attention until her children were teens.

Hobson’s husband encouraged her to return to her love for painting.

“He told me I needed to do my artwork because I was always the happiest when I was drawing or painting,” Hobson said. “I got back into it and I had several paintings completed and I wouldn’t show them to anyone but Felix and my children.”

After several friends and acquaintances hassled her to show them the paintings she finally shared her art. Jerry Jester, the owner of the beauty salon near Hobson’s home, encouraged Hobson to bring her artwork to display and sell at his shop. This was the first place she sold her artwork.

Hobson moved into commission pieces from there.

“I worked at Hampton House Gallery in Winston-Salem where I would go and paint every Wednesday,” Hobson said. “From there my art work really took off.”

In 1989 Hobson realized that she couldn’t keep up with the demand for original paintings and decided to create her first limited edition print. That print was the “Rockford,” a painting of an old country story from a historical village near her home.

Hobson continued a balance of original paintings and limited edition prints through 1998, when she decided that she wanted to take her art on the road. She and Felix purchased a motor home and took her art everywhere from Florida to Texas.

Hobson was honored with the Governor’s Award by the governor of North Carolina in 1991 and 1998 for her contributions to charity and her extensive artwork collection.

In 2005, Hobson saw her dreams of traveling with her art come to an end. She had fallen down a set of stairs in 2003 and fractured her lower back making it difficult for her to walk and leaving her with a permanent pain in her back.

In 2009, Hobson was stricken with a strep infection in her bloodstream that went directly to the injured area of her back. She was hospitalized for three weeks, unable to walk. When she was released she still struggled to walk and her husband had to administer IV antibiotics for her daily for three weeks. By the end the infection had destroyed two discs in her back and eaten away most of the vertebra between the discs.

Hobson pressed on and with the help of her husband and an electronic wheel chair she was able to become mobile again and get back to what she loves.

Today Hobson has just recently completed an image of Daniel Boone crossing the Yadkin River into Yadkin County. The project teamed Hobson with the North Carolina Daniel Boone Heritage Trail [NCDBHT] which helped her with historical details and locations for her to travel to in order to research the location she would be painting.

“Daniel Boone Crossing the Shallow Ford” is the first painting to ever depict Daniel Boone in the Yadkin County area, a place he lived for several years. A portion of the proceeds from the paintings will go to the NCDHBT.

Hobson says she plans to create a series of Daniel Boone paintings depicting the time he spent in Yadkin County. She says the entire project will take her years to complete.

“Since I have been so excited about this paintings, my new goal is that it will be the beginning of a series of paintings depicting the life and travels of our Daniel Boone including his marriage and when he sees a buffalo for the very first time,” Hobson said.

Hobson said that once the series is completed she would like to place the prints in a coffee table book that also features the story of Daniel Boone’s life. She said that the book will be appropriate for all ages and will be great for the classroom.

Despite her hardships, Hobson said that she is just glad that she is able to make a living doing what she loves every day.

“Not many people can do something that they love and be able to make a living and help feed a family,” Hobson said. “There’s just so many people in this world that are tortured five days a week and if they had a job that they really enjoyed then I think the world would be a lot happier.”

Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.