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Ben L. Patton is a gentle and humble man who loves the canvas. He began painting at the age of 10 and has only stopped for brief periods of his life. When he is in front of the easel, he is his happiest.
A plumber by day and an artist on Fridays and Saturdays, Ben Patton is living his dream and sharing his love for art with the world. In 1999, he opened his own gallery, The Topside Gallery, on Whitesburg Drive near The Market Place.
Ben is proud to point out that a pencil never touches his oil paintings. He sees the painting in his mind, starts with the sky and background and slowly moves forward to the front of the painting and all the details. When I asked how he came out "right" each time, he says that he sees the painting and just goes from there.
"It always works out," he says. Looking at his painting of the Baptism at Big Spring Park and all the details, it's hard to imagine how he can make it work.
Patton credits his artistic ability on a gift from God. A member of St. James Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Jeff Road, Ben is quick to say that it is God's hand in his work. He's a self-taught painter. Art was not taught in the country school he attended in Toney at a time when black and white children did not attend the same school.
