I started learning to paint when I was 12 years old. I decided one day that I wanted to decorate my room and started painting images that I saw in mail order catalogs using simple watercolor paints on paper. I found that it was a challenge for me personally to try to create realistic images and change my environment and give a room personality, color and life.
I started getting serious about painting when I was in high school creating seascape paintings and continued creating artwork for some of my college professors at Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU was a well known art school that I wanted to attend but I ended up taking classes in Marketing and Business instead. I received a double major in Marketing and Information Systems and worked full time as a Software Engineer, UX Designer and Accessibility Subject Matter Expert for companies such as Walt Disney World, Kemper National Services and Federal Government contracts.
I have always continued to pursue my artwork and photography alongside my full time career, winning awards for my art and photography and created Scenic Earth Studios in March of 1996 to reach a larger audience outside of doing local art shows in Virginia and Florida. I have had a great career working as a Software Engineer but over the years, I find myself dreaming of painting and coming up with new ideas to bring to life on paper.
Subjects
I have always been drawn to the ocean and the sea so started painting seascapes when I was in high school then once I moved to Florida, started developing a love for Western and Wildlife Art after seeing some of the cowboy culture here in Florida. I never realized that there would be such a rich culture of cowboy history here in the Sunshine State but from Ocala to Okeechobee you find horse ranches, cattle farms, rodeos and even cowboy churches that embrance the culture so I found myself photographing and painting more of these types of images.
I also found that I have a love for children's art, mainly because that is when I started to become interested in art myself but I also wanted to create artwork that reflected innocence, wholesomeness and imagination that allows the viewer to experience the world through the eyes of a child, capturing the hope, innnocence and imagination of children everywhere.
Mediums
I have always loved using Acrylics as well as oils and even enamel paint. When I started using oil paint as a kid, the prices went up so high that I switched to a paint that most kids are well familiar with, Tester's Model Paint, seriously. Not only could I paint models with it as a kid but started to use it to paint on canvas and paper and it gave a brilliant glossy texture that I still love using to this day as an adult. After working as a Software Engineer and Creative Director for a few years, I have started using digital art more and creating paintings and photography with Adobe Photoshop, 2D and 3D Paint tools and AI tools as I can use them for conceptual art to end up creating a finished painting.
Favorite Artists
As for Artists that inspire me, Norman Rockwell has always been one of my favorite artists for his story telling through art and realism as well as Andrew Wyeth, Boris Vallejo and Hugh Syme. Thank you for taking time to read about my artistic journey. I hope you enjoy my work and visit me here at my online studio often.
Best Wishes,
Rick
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