A Family Tradition (part two)

My brother Rick, born in 1950, wanted to be an artist. I remember his art projects from the one year of college at Oklahoma Christian College in 1968. His artwork was very good. Yet, because of the very conservative nature of the school in its early days, he had to take his art courses at the nearby state school. He left college after only one year and his poor health made him secure from the Vietnam War Draft. He took a job and met a girl. They married, and had three sons.

Like our father, Rick is a practical man. Rick has always been a spiritual man as well. He attended church when his work made this possible. He did not aspire to preaching, but expected to mature into a congregational leadership role in years to come. In his practical nature, he decided that a man with a wife and three children to raise should not pursue art as a vocation. Many lives have challenges, and his too was interrupted by a series of sad events. His marriage ended. His oldest son was afflicted with many health issues, including Tourette's Syndorme.

Rick took in his disabled son. He kept working. His Christian concern was also displayed, not in the church, or the pulpit, but in the workplace. He became a major force in the labor union, and worked especially for justice and safety on the work place.

In his sixties, arthritis made work in physical labor too challenging. He retired at 62. He returned to his passion for painting.

His bedroom closet is now packed with paintings. They are very good. Art has been his all-consuming avocation as well.

Rick has gone through many styles from representational art to stylized impressionism.

It is hard to select a single picture to reflect his genius. One of his favorite subjects is Southwestern Native Americans, including mystical symbolism. His favorite medium is Acrylic paint, with both brush and palette knife. Here are four works that reflect his experimentation and development.

Often you will see him standing beside his car after Sunday church service, his latest painting in his hand, brought across town to show to my sister Kathy, her husband Morris, and my wife and I.

I hope to share more of Rick’s art in future blogs.