Patrick Lyons O’Brien (born July 5, 1960) is an American artist and writer, known for his children's books and for his maritime paintings. The

National Maritime Historical Society The National Maritime Historical Society (NMHS) is a non-profit organization in America devoted to historical ship preservation and maritime education. The society's mission is to educate Americans, especially its youth about maritime accomplishmen ...

awarded O’Brien their Distinguished Service Award for his body of artwork in 2012.

Biography

Patrick O’Brien was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. In 1982 O'Brien earned a degree in biology from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. He then became a full-time artist in the mid 1980s. In 2011 O’Brien began teaching as a part-time faculty member at The

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, it is regarded as one of ...

. He lives in Baltimore, MD. O'Brien is not related to the well-known British author Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000,) but because he is a writer, and works in a similar genre, there is often confusion between the two authors. In 2024, he was named president of the American Society of Marine Artists.

Children's books

O’Brien is the author and illustrator of 12 children's books, and the illustrator of 6 others. His first book was published in 1995. Most of his books are non-fiction. His specialty is prehistoric animals and historical subjects such as knights, pirates and trains. O’Brien has also illustrated a series of sci-fi adventure tales featuring dinosaurs in space, the ''Captain Raptor'' series. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' says "the series combines ''Jurassic Park'', ''Star Trek'' and Captain Nemo, balancing tongue-in-cheek cheesiness with earnest enthusiasm". ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' described it as "what most small boys would agree is the perfect book" and described the art as "just plain beautiful". In 2017 O'Brien published ''You Are The First Kid on Mars'' ( Putnam, 2009.) ''Publishers Weekly'' said of the book, “O'Brien takes an inventive leap into the future... Made captivatingly real by stunning digital art, this intriguing vision of space exploration should set imaginations soaring.” A copy of the book was launched into space aboard a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

rocket in August, 2017 and delivered to The

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

, as part of a program called ''Story Time From Space''.

Marine art

In 2003 O’Brien began painting maritime scenes. He specializes in historic scenes from the age of sail. O’Brien does extensive research to ensure that each painting is historically and nautically accurate. In 2011 The

U. S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mili ...

commissioned O’Brien to create three paintings of historic Coast Guard vessels. One of the painting hangs in the main cabin aboard the USCG EAGLE.

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

commissioned several paintings depicting newly built supertankers. In 2009 The Gaylord National Resort at The National Harbor in Maryland commissioned two very large maritime paintings for their lobby. The U. S. Naval Institute has commissioned several paintings for covers of their magazine ''Naval History'', including a large painting of The Battle of the Chesapeake.

Exhibitions

In 2008

The Union League Club The Union League Club is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1863 in affiliation with the Union League. Its fourth and current clubhouse is located at 38 East 37th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in the Murray Hi ...

in New York City hosted a solo-exhibition of O’Brien's work entitled ''New York in the Age of Sai''l. In 2010 The U. S. Naval Academy Museum mounted a solo-exhibition of O’Brien's work featuring twenty-eight oil paintings. The paintings were loaned by collectors from around the country. O’Brien has exhibited regularly since 2004 at the annual Mystic International Marine Art Exhibition. In 2010 at the

Enoch Pratt Free Library The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library is located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupies the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded by West Franklin S ...

in Baltimore, MD, mounted an exhibition featuring O’Brien's artwork. The exhibit was called ''Space, Sword and Dinosaurs, the Creation of Art for Children’s Books''. In 2017 several pieces of O’Brien's artwork were included in an exhibition of artwork from children's books at

The National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

in Washington DC. In 2007 O’Brien had a solo exhibition of his paintings in Portsmouth, VA. The exhibit was entitled ''The Civil War at Sea''.

Awards

In 2012 The

awarded O’Brien their ''Distinguished Service Award'' for his body of artwork. In 2015 O’Brien was awarded the ''Schaefer Maritime Heritage Award'' at the Mystic International Marine Art Exhibition at the

Mystic Seaport Museum Mystic Seaport Museum (founded as Marine Historical Association) is a maritime museum in Mystic, Connecticut, and the largest in the United States. Its site holds a collection of ships and boats and a re-creation of a 19th-century seaport vill ...

in Connecticut. In 2010 the

awarded O’Brien their ''Museum Purchase Award'', which means the museum bought O’Brien's painting for its permanent collection.

Selected works

Books written and illustrated by O'Brien

* ''The Making of a Knight'', 1998 * ''Gigantic!'', 1999 * ''Steam, Smoke and Steel'', 2000 * ''The Hindenburg,'' 2000 * ''Megatooth'', 2001 * ''The Great Ships'', 2001 * ''Mammoth'', 2002 * ''Fantastic Flights,'' 2003 * ''Duel of the Ironclads'', 2003 * ''The Mutiny of the Bounty,'' 2007 * ''Sabertooth,'' 2008 * ''You Are the First Kid on Mars'', 2009

Books written by O'Brien and Kevin O'Malley, and illustrated by O'Brien.

* ''Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery'', 2005 * ''Captain Raptor and the Space Pirates'', 2007

References

External links

* Patrick O'Brien a
The Maryland Institute College of Art

Patrick O'Brien at Charlesbridge Publishing

Patrick O'Brien at Penguin Random House

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Patrick American children's writers 1960 births Living people American children's book illustrators American male painters 21st-century American writers University of Virginia alumni Maryland Institute College of Art faculty 20th-century American writers Artists from Boston Writers from Boston