Richard Davies raised his paintbrush to the horizon at eye level. He measures his subject in relation to the canvas on his easel.
He was on the sidewalk outside the Reuben Saunders Gallery in East Douglas. In 90-degree heat. On a Tuesday.
“I will paint anywhere, anytime, any condition,” Davies said. “I am an artist. I’ve been doing this for 40-something years. And this is what I do. ”
Melanie Rivera-Cortez
/
KMUW
Davies practices a method of painting called “plein-aire,” which is a French term for painting outdoors in which your subject is clearly visible.
He recently said he went back to painting outdoors through a friend asking for painting tips.
“I gave him some good advice, and then he convinced me to go out painting with him,” she said. “He even lent me a big French easel – which weighed a ton – but we went out and painted, and I had fun, and that’s what brought me back here.”
And Davies wasn’t lying when he said he would paint anywhere. You may have seen him outside the Orpheum, the Anchor or along the Arkansas River.
He said he gets a lot of attention from people who catch him on the street but considers it an opportunity to educate people about the beauty of art and making art.
Like Thy Phan, who happened to be walking on Tuesday morning.
“I think it was very spontaneous,” Phan said of seeing an actor working on the sidewalk. “I think it’s super cool because a lot of big cities are doing these kinds of things.
“So I feel like the Wichita community is doing it; it really keeps the art world thriving. ”
Davies sometimes isolates himself from Wichita to work in a quieter environment. As in Belle Plaine, just south of Wichita.
“Well, we’re at the pond,” Davies said, describing the scene. “It’s a typical Kansas farm pond, but it’s in an arboretum, with… beautiful plantings around it.
“This is the Bartlett Arboretum. And what I’m going to paint will have a little grass on the right… ”
As he continued, time was almost like a private painting lesson. Davies shared how to make shapes, colors and shades.
“I try and work from back to front, cut the main shapes, main blocks and cut the back part,” Davies said. “And you can paint over it because … as in physical reality, you know, things are in front of each other. It’s that simple.”
On his canvas, a scene has already formed. An iron bridge and a creek. Beautiful trees and grass. It was all around him, away from the quiet surroundings of a studio. The only natural world on a hot afternoon in Kansas.
Davies, 63, was asked when he plans to put the paintbrushes on permanently.
“I do not know. He might die, “he replied.” Who knows? “
But only until then?
“Yes, until then, I will continue,” he said. “You continue all I want to do.”
Richard Davies ’paintings can be found on his website or at the Reuben Saunders Gallery at 3215 E. Douglas.
