“I have always been drawn like a moth to a flame, into the liminal zones at the boundaries between the elemental materials of the landscape. It is here in the still spaces, at the edge of our fragile rule, that the universe reveals its’ blind logic.”

Richard was born in 1954 in Barrow-in-Furness and trained as a Landscape Architect in Manchester. At the age of 17 he was awarded the Greenwood Prize for Art and has continued to paint throughout his life. In 1987 he returned to Cumbria and the Mountains and Lakes that inspire his work. Since then he has lived in Cockermouth with his family and after a successful career in environmental and community regeneration, now practices as an Artist, Creativity Coach and Counsellor.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
The complex delicacy of the Lakeland landscape has been forged over four hundred million years by molten rock, ice, wind and water. This dazzling creation is still inhabited by many of the remarkable creatures with which we share this inheritance.

As the story of our world is re-written and our understanding of our place in the universe unravels we can no longer afford to view the natural world with the sentimentality of recent generations. We may have prevailed over the wolf and the bear that once stalked our forests, but we cannot change our dependency on these natural systems.

Now when we look at a landscape we can discard the Victorian notions of romantic prettiness to reveal the cold divine beauty that was always there. What I see is the product of transformation wrought in the friction between unfathomable biological and elemental forces. Working in the liminal zones between the elements that make up the landscape I am looking at evolution in action and find the reality of our own dark nature and bright potential reflected in the ripples.

Each of the creatures who still survive on this edge have their stories to teach us, of how they have constantly reshaped themselves in the heat of the cosmic crucible, As we stand with one foot in the bubble of contemporary society and the other in the primordial crucible we can find a vital perspective to help complete the puzzle of our own lives.

I primarily work on canvas in oils and acrylics to capture in both representational and abstract images my response to these fleeting moments of connection to the cosmic forces.

CONTACT click here to email 01900 829371