Rick Schimpf, Pasadena, MD 21122
Member Since May 2016
Artist Statement Hello, allow me to tell you a little about myself.
I’m retired from a career in Information Technology. I’ve had interest in art since a child. I even took a correspondence course when I was a kid - that’s an online course before the days of the Internet. Lessons, directions, and grades were exchanged via “snail mail”- Communications were slow - sometimes weeks between sending off a lesson and getting any type of response returned. I lost interest before completing the course.
As an adult, I dabbled with painting from time to time but only in my retirement have I sustained my focus and efforts to develop my skills. I describe myself as a self-taught, hobbyist painter. I’ve made an occasional sale and have had several paintings exhibited.
You may detect some influence in my work by painters such as Thomas Moran or more recent artists like Christopher Clark. I have a large collection of photos of Monet paintings and drawings for reference. However, I don’t strive to replicate any of their works and styles or limit myself to another’s criteria that may result in restricting development of my personal creative expression.
Rather, I’ve viewed the works of those more accomplished. Studied many techniques, and attempt to use what I’ve learned to produce a painting that uniquely affirms my artistic style while at the same time captures, emphasizes, and celebrates the interest and beauty of the scene.
In the words of Thomas Schaller -
“We’ve likely all heard ‘There are no bad subjects, only bad paintings.’ Maybe so, but I’m saying something a bit different. It is not that the subjects we see are intrinsically beautiful or not. Nothing can actually contain beauty. Rather, beauty is found within us and we confer it upon what we see. And so, it is less that some person, place, or thing may inspire us than it is a matter of how adept we are at tapping into the inspiration we already contain. We access it, design it, and then put it down on paper. In this sense, we are the architects of our inspiration.”
My paintings are primarily landscape and seascape scenes with an occasional venture into other interests. I hope you can have as much enjoyment viewing my paintings as I have producing them.
I've exhibited in several local Maryland exhibits as well as on-line exhibits.
My paintings have received awards, been covered by local and statewide newspapers, and digitally displayed at the Louvre in Paris.
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