Richard has drawn and painted from childhood winning prizes for art on television and at County Art Shows whilst still at school. He discovered a love of watercolours at school and later developed a facility in this medium and in perspective drawing to use in his professional life as an architect.

Many of the techniques adopted for the production of rendered perspectives, both for his own use and for others, were used for personal pleasure in painting ‘en plein air’. This often provided an alternative to ‘holiday snaps’ and have provided real memories of places visited. The process forces an observation of subjects which involves both the temporal nature of the subject and the quality of changing light. This gives the image a unique quality which cannot be reproduced by the camera, and forms the basis of all the subjects and techniques of Richard’s painting.

Subject matter includes the natural world with human intervention, marine scenes, still life, industrial and agricultural machinery (which have led to some commissions) but the developing technique of painting in watercolour has been focussed on the ability to depict anything with sufficient realism to be understood and yet still recognizably a painting.

Influences are wide and varied but amongst the watercolour heroes are Seago, Yardley, Blockley, Chamberlain, Russel Flint and Hilder. Richard could not be said to paint in the style of any of these artists but all have contributed in some way to his view and technique of painting, which is uniquely his own.

Richard retired from full time professional practise as an architect in 2013 and now concentrates on his first love of painting, initially by joining the Reading Guild of Artists, exhibiting as much as possible including the Royal Society of Marine Artists at the Mall Gallery, with reasonable sales success. There have also been some commissions and tutoring of local groups.

Richard has been painting in watercolour for over 40 years but recognizes that there are still things to learn and new challenges to be met. It is the aspirational nature and the impetus of execution in every new picture which for him maintains the freshness and urgency of painting.