Featured Artist Richard Cavoretto

Enjoy the work of multi-talented artist Richard Cavoretto. See more of his paintings by visiting his website.

 

 

I am a Christian minister, a singer, a composer, a poet, and an artist. Many of my paintings connect the commitment to fulfill my life’s purpose with the desire to use my talents. My works range from almost photographic realism, to impressionistic, to abstract. I have composed poems that accompany some of my paintings.

 

 

Color, composition, and content in my ever-changing environment excite my senses and stimulate my imagination. Whether it’s a majestic landscape, a simple play of light and shadow on household items, or a discarded rusted piece of machinery it cries out, “Experience me, enjoy me and express me!”

 

 

It had been over 30 years since I attended California College of Arts and Crafts and put a brush to canvas. Then, at a lodge near Yosemite I spotted an artist painting in the lobby. My hands itched to hold the brushes, mix some colors, and convert a blank canvas. So the passion I set aside in 1962 sprouted again.

 

 

The seed was planted early. My dad was a talented artist. The fragrance of linseed oil and turpentine take me to those childhood times when I sat at his side watching him transform flat canvases into images of beauty. I began painting when I was a teenager, and was mentored by two remarkable teachers. With a scholarship, I started off to art college. But I set aside aspirations of an art career to enter the ministry.

 

 

I am now a retired pastor living in California with my wife near Yosemite National Park, serving in the music ministry of my church, doing summer ministries in Arizona, and doing volunteer hospice work. Beyond those early art college years, I am deeply appreciative of the encouragement of fellow artists – guiding influences – those who have applied their brushstrokes to my life.

 

 

I live by the conviction that “Man was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” My goal is to express that in my own creations. That conviction is especially behind my “Heavy Metal” series – renderings of rusted pieces of metal objects. I have noticed there is beauty to be discovered even in objects that have been rejected and discarded. It’s like when the Master Artist touches us and gives “beauty for ashes.” 

 

 

OLD SALTS

When newly cast

and knit with welder’s yarn,

Salt water’s blast

We braved until forlorn.

Though mercy gives

An aging beauty still,

The ocean lives,

And we be growing ill.

But all things wane,

Though some are not perceived.

And old salts feign,

Until they have believed.

There is a law

To bind all creatures’ fate,

We age in awe,

Redemption to await.