From the earliest times she can remember, former La Jolla interior design specialist turned painter Patricia Jasper Clark was naturally good at decorating. Even as a little girl she had an artistic flair and liked to decorate. When she later went to University of Houston (UH) to study history, her undergraduate dorm room was voted “Best Decorated.” After receiving a Bachelor of Arts from UH, Clark flew to France, where she studied art and French for a year at the Sorbonne. For the next step in her career, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in interior design from the American University in Washington D.C., after which she married and opened an interior design business there. Clark came to La Jolla by a serendipitous turn of events. She and her husband were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. But it was raining every day and they wanted to leave. The only plane out was to San Diego. So they took it and got a room at the La Valencia Hotel on Prospect Street. Of course, like most of our visitors, they fell in love with La Jolla and eventually moved here. Since 1976, Clark has operated Patricia Jaspers Design Associates here in La Jolla, specializing in living rooms and family rooms of the well-to-do in the Muirlands area. She also designed the skybox for the owners of the Chargers football team and a set of marvelous floral dinner plates that were sold at the annual Jewel Ball of Las Patronas, of which she is a member. Her garden painting, “Serenity,” is on the cover of the brochure for the upcoming Secret Garden Tour of the La Jolla Historical Society. Clark is also a founding instructor at the Design Institute of San Diego, where she taught the history of the decorative arts. About three years ago, Clark decided she wanted to try her hand at paining. It turned out she had a natural gift, which even local expert painter Sebastian Capella, who she studied with, recognized. Clark says she is most inspired by early California impressionist Franz Bischoff. But she also loves John Singer Sargent and Sorolla. Clark’s painting fluctuates between “Plein Aire” outdoor landscapes and still lifes, which often feature a bowl and glass or vase with fruit. Clark says she feels extremely blessed to have found a new calling at this stage of her life. “After having a career of 30 years,” she said, “to discover a new passion or dream to pursue at this time in my life is a great surprise and an unexpected thrill. It was so wonderful to discover that I had a talent for art and that I would be so motivated to pursue it.”