While he has been drawing from a very early age (Richard's earliest remembered art achievement was a mural-sized drawing of the Resurrection, done at the behest of the Sisters of Charity at St. James Elementary School while in the second grade) he had no formal art education until early college years.

While earning a Master's degree in Studio Art, when abstract painting, theory and practice, was the rule at university art departments, he was, literally, left on his own to study and draw from artists of the past and present who painted and continued to paint.

Several portrait seminars in New York City, with John Howard Sanden, provided his first actual exposure to the world of professional portrait painting.

In Houston, a longtime friendship with the artist Jose S. Perez was invaluable in his artistic development . He also values a friendship with the late J. Anthony Wills, whose thousand-plus portraits included three official Presidential portraits (Truman, Eisenhower and Nixon). More recently, workshops with Sherrie McGraw and David Leffel have added another layer to the ongoing his comprehension of painting.

"We have centuries of painting behind us, and a certain degree of continuity had been lost or discarded when I began to paint. The learning process, for me, has been long and slow and arduous.

Learning to apply paint to canvas that not only suggests life but concomitantly has life itself, is a never-ending process."

With almost four decades of active portraiture behind, and the bar of the goal continually raised to a higher level, the passion to paint is undiminished.

The following are base fees for portraits; travel expenses are included in the fee.
 

Pastel sketches on a toned pastel surface, single figure (no paint or detail in the background). Travel expenses are included in the fee with the exception that for head and shoulder pastel portrait sketches, a minimum of three commissions must be ready to be done in the same trip.
 

Pastel Portrait Paintings (these are fully painted to the same degree as an oil portrait except in the medium of pastel)
 

The prices listed above are for a single figure painting. Elaborate detail in clothing and/or background, including the addition of pet(s) will increase the fee.

Other Fees
Framing, travel expenses and crating/shipping costs are additional. Fifty percent of the portrait fee is due when the photographs are taken, with the balance due upon satisfactory delivery of the portrait(s).