American Goldfinch

American Goldfinch • 10" x 10" • oil on lead-primed panel

Almost finished with this portrait of an American Goldfinch. It's been quite a long process because I've been fighting the tooth of the lead-primed surface. That's fine for certain subjects, but for bird feathers it's just a constant struggle to describe the fine striations.

The background color of this painting looks a bit like pink marble. I do the backgrounds quite quickly, usually. I like them to appear to be something without that something being to preciously executed.

I'm Richard, that guy your art teachers warned you about...

I was born and raised in Massachusetts. Went to The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. My further art studies followed the atelier system.

None of the painting teachers at Pratt could teach me anything about how to do the paintings I envisioned. My paintings are about discovery, probably appropriate for someone who has discovered the methods I use to paint them.

I'm currently showing at Principle Gallery (Washington, DC & Charleston, SC) and Waterhouse Gallery (Santa Barbara, CA & Montecito, CA). I've been featured in many national magazines, and my work is broadly collected.

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