Featured Artist Rick J. Delanty

Artist Rick J. Delanty presents a portfolio of contemporary landscapes inspired by an appreciation of the natural world. Learn more by visiting his website.

 

 

Nature inspires me. My work is about the power and beauty of nature in God’s creation.

 

 

Daily I am in awe of the elements, of circumstances that work to a purpose, of connections of all kinds. I am in awe of creativity, the imagination, the power of humans to express their gifts.

 

 

I am blessed by the love of my family, their triumphs, the capacity to see and feel. I am a lifelong-learner, studying all kinds of subjects all day long. As an artist, I understand that my job is to appreciate life—and I love doing that.

 

 

What is supernatural about life is the essence of what intrigues me in searching for material for each of my paintings. For me, the natural world is a place to connect with myself and universal elements. It is an arena for awe, and a place to experience wonder, and the way all elements are related to one another.

 

 

The relationship of man to himself, to his surroundings and to each other is really the subject of my work, as expressed through the landscape. One may see this concentration on these relationships in the art of the sublime, and in the works of 19^th Century Romantics.

 

 

The work is all about scale: where do we fit into a life that is bigger than we are? How do we explain natural phenomena in the frame of the supernatural? How can we influence the world for the good, through our relationships with nature and each other?  

 

 

In the face of a global pandemic, and countless trials in every nation, I would like to create works that encourage an experience of peace. I have chosen the landscape because so often what we see in our surroundings evokes that desire for stillness, quiet and personal mediation.

 

 

I use a variety of tools in creating this mood in each work, knives, scrapers, rags, large brushes, even razor blades. I want to be true to nature in both its textures and its communication to men of its grandeur and majesty.

 

 

My goal as I work is “make it natural,” in the belief that the first brushstroke (au premier coup) will render the essential truth in nature that I seek. That explains the instinctual brushwork, and the interconnectedness of otherwise seeming unconnected marks. I try not to do anything over, but to rely upon my initial impressions throughout the work. To maintain that energy from the first stroke to the last is the challenge.

 

 

Art is very important to me, and I create every day—but it’s not everything. Most significant to me is family, community, work, and fitness of mind and body. Art does the heart good.

 

Artist Rick J. Delanty invites you to follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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