I Divide My Career In Art Into Three Phases.
The first phase spanned from art school starting in 1977 until I went back to graduate school in 1991. The second phase started with my working in digital media, digital painting, mapmaking, and landscape visualization from 1993 until 2013. The third phase started in 2013 when we moved from Redding to Chico, California, and continues now.
The First Phase:
I started relatively late in my art career. My adventure into art began at 30 when I began formal training at the University of Colorado, Denver, in the arts including drawing, painting, and sculpture. After moving to Maine, I worked in art as a painter, trying and moving through different media such as mixed media, gouache, casein, acrylics, oils, oil stick, and eventually encaustics. Most of my work during this period mostly consisted of paintings and drawings on paper. I was always drawn towards more abstract-looking work, but, personal, biographical, and expressionistic in nature. My paintings were complex in that I was looking for a visual language and composition that “works”, but allowing life issues such as relationships, gender, and other personal issues always seem to creep into my art. Usually, I started from a blank “canvas” and eventually let the painting develop itself. The sizes of the works varied starting small (22″x 15″) and getting as large as 78″x 128″.
Much of my “traditional” artwork was created during this first phase of my art career and many are available as originals. Check out My Traditional Works Gallery. Prices for originals start around $250 unframed and up. You can contact me at 530-209-5425 by sending me a text message. You can also email me at ForMyArt2021@gmail.com
For those works that either have been sold or not for sale, prints can be made. Go to my FineArtAmerica personal website (http://reddingrich.pixels.com) to buy prints.
The Second Phase:
In 1991 I entered graduate school at San Digo State University with the idea of replacing waiting with another type of work to bring income in while painting. I entered the geography department, specializing in GIS (geographic information systems) and Remote Sensing. During this time of my life, I was introduced to computers, cartography, graphics, and related technologies. I stopped painting but worked more on computer graphics as well as computer mapping. Besides the GIS and mapping technologies, I became interested in 3-D, landscape visualization, and other graphic media. I became familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, World Construction Set, Visual Nature Studio, Maya, and other software packages. I still kept my strong interest in art but most of my focus was on digital and graphical art.
The Third Phase:
In 2013 my wife and I moved to Chico, Ca. In this third phase of my art career, I have focused on the process of cataloging all my work, including digital and traditional work, and learning how to market my work. I have a page on Facebook Art from Richard Baron. To purchase my art go to my personal website on FineArtAmerica where my work can be printed on prints, tote bags, throw pillows, shower curtains, duvet covers, and clothing, and other products.
I am, also reclaiming myself as an artist. I still like exploring new forms of media as well as returning to my older works for inspiration. As I look at my work, I am looking back at what I have done as well as looking forward to still time to produce more art. As a GIS analyst data came from many sources of data. As an artist, my inspiration and my methods to create art come from diverse, convergent sources. I see myself coming back home and feel very excited about the future.
My ideas about my work have changed since my earlier work. I still am interested in using different media in my work. But now, I like to include photographs, abstract-like painting, and sometimes text. I love the idea of collage and multiple ideas on the same plane. I like altering photographs, especially those pertaining to my life and relationships. Having learned about ceramics, I am very interested in mixing encaustics and imagery onto the surface of ceramics.
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