Richard started painting in the late 60s, working in acrylics. He still has the first painting he did, a small landscape. He started painting in oils when he went to school at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. Oils were great to work in and he worked in oils for about 9 or 10 years before changing back to acrylics. The oils dried too slow and as his painting speed increased he found that the faster drying acrylics worked better for him. Richard’s early influences were the Wyeth family and painters who worked realistically. His earliest paintings were fantasy woodlands and underwater paintings. At Ringling, his landscape teacher said he had a good eye for painting landscapes.
