Daniel Rick, idaho falls
Member Since August 2015
Artist Statement I am a Christian painter, wanting to glorify God with artwork based on the bible Born and Raised in Montana, Daniel Rick was born into an artistic western family. His Grandmother lived outside of Rosebud, Montana and painted numerous scenes of Custer’s last stand. His mother Mary Ann Cherry continues to paint, and is known for both her wildlife and elaborate Native American dancers.
Despite having a bachelor’s in art Daniel has stated many times that anything close to a real education in art has come from his mother. It has been under her tutelage that any inherent artistic talent that he was given was nurtured and flourished.
Through the years Daniel did everything but develop his art. Like most artists he never believed enough in the wonderful talent he was given. He worked on farms and drove truck through the wheat harvests in high school and worked as a dutch oven chef on a dude ranch in Wyoming through college. After college He worked as a wildland firefighter, taking on blazes in 8 different states across the west. Finally deciding if he really wanted to pay for quality framing he would need a different job, Daniel went back to school and became a certified physician assistant. With a good paying job he finally felt ready to take on the artwork, and was promptly deployed to Afghanistan. After 9 months in country He came home with the singular focus to become one of the world’s best western and Christian artists. Upon returning , he hit the ground running, and hasn’t stopped putting out amazing pieces that reflect images of the Bible and the western historical images from the west he missed so much while deployed.
“Being deployed awakened a deep hunger to really succeed as a western painter. Being in a place so completely devoid of color made me realize even more what a blessing we have to live in the west and how the images of that can evoke such emotion. I had a picture of a lonesome road back home, a stark cold winter day, wind, blown snow over the road, sun far down on the horizon. I pulled that out often, not as much as pictures of family, but often. Each time it brought such a flood of memories and longing and joy. Joy at the way the sun sets early and the light plays on the snow in the north country. Images of the west or from the bible that I paint have the power to do that, to bring back memories, to bring up emotions from our history , and to glorify God.”
“So the usual question always comes down to why do I do what I do. It comes down to striving to elicit that deep emotion by telling the story with an image in order to bring back a personal memory, to rejoice in a bible story, or to remind us of the rich and colorful heritage we share. When someone connects with a piece I the work that went into it was well spent. ”
Currently Daniel lives in Idaho and pines for long stretch of land in Montana. He has the love of a good wife behind him, pushing him to improve with each piece, and loving him even when they don’t turn out.
“Some pieces just don’t turn out, you can fight and struggle with a piece and sometimes you just have to cut your losses and resign yourself to realizing your defeat and take it right out to the trash. Learn from it, but don’t let it beat you. Just like getting thrown from a horse, it hurts but you get back on.”
He usual paints with a golden retriever fast asleep at his feet and a cat curled up behind his easel. He gets his ideas from daily reading the bible, prayer, and going for long walks with his dogs on windy Idaho afternoons.
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