My visit to Richard’s studio was in fact my third time there. The first time was a wet and windy October . On that occasion he was in the middle of physically revamping the large building he occupies from an automobile repair shop into a gallery, a framing work room and a painting studio.
You would be right in thinking that sounds like an awful lot of work for one person to undertake. Richard however has an enormous amount of energy, both for his painting and new projects, that he embraces with astounding vigour and enthusiasm. The second time was to talk art business and present some observations about his plans for his new art gallery.
The artist, at this time was relatively young, so his energy was not that surprising, but his painting reflects a more mature artistic mind working together with a deep sense of a personal ambition and passion to become the very best painter that he can possibly be. That ambition is almost palpable when talking with him and it was demonstrated by his excited speech when talks about his work. It's an excited verbal delivery, one that is both endearing, passionate and infectious. (Please see the report on the Colony Gallery feature in this issue to learn what happened to the idea of the Gallery).
It was refreshing for me to share mutually agreed views and thoughts on art and painting in particular, whilst we sipped cups of tea inside the kitchen area of the building. I’d arrived on again a grey Sunday mid-morning in November, wind swept and partially soaked from the drizzle that seems to constantly hover of the area the studio, which is located in Rochdale, (Lancashire). And the offer of more than one cup of hot tea was readily accepted and much needed.
After I had warmed and dried off, Richard took me on a tour of the building explaining in great detail what the various rooms would function as, and what they would look like, when completed. We eventually walked into his painting studio, which he insisted to repeatedly apologise for the state’ it was in. “I haven’t had the time to clean up...” ...he said more than once, being a painter myself he need not of worried.
I know myself and from personal experience, that there are many occasions when an artist gets so ‘into’ what he or she is creating, that the space around them becomes an invisible backdrop that simply accepts whatever is thrown at it.
I’m sure everyone has seen the photographs of the studio of Francis Bacon, is a perfect example of this st
