Born and raised in the Hamilton Burlington area, as well as the Sudbury area, Rick taught for 30 years for the Halton Board of Education in both elementary and secondary schools with 20 of those years teaching Art to grades 2 to 13, as well as photography and computer graphics at the secondary level.

Since 1980 he has worked through a variety of media including pencil, ink, watercolour and a long period of working in acrylics. In 2017 the switch was made to oils. There is an enormous amount of technical learning to be had in oil painting, in order to accomplish durable and well-executed paintings, and this is his current focus.

In 2022 he was granted signature status with the Federation of Canadian Artists, and in 2023 he became an “elected” member of the Society of Canadian Artists

Juried exhibits have included;
McMaster Innovation Park, annual exhibits, Burlington Art Gallery, Visual Arts Mississauga Annual Exhibits.
More recent exhibits have included: Society of Canadian Artists; annual juried exhibits 2011 and 2019, 2020 and 2021, and the 2023 annual international online Exhibit. Federation of Canadian Artists; Bella 2020, Artist’s Choice 2021, Vancouver Salon 2021 and 2023,
Federation of Canadian Artists Toronto; 2020 Open Exhibit, 2021 Spring Forward Harvest Times 2022 and the Open Invitational 2023 online exhibition

Other events include: Dundas Valley School of Art, the annual auction and the Little Black Frame Event Pelham Arts Festival

Affiliations: Society Of Canadian Artists Federation of Canadian Artists Federation of Canadian Artists Toronto Portrait Society of America

Rick takes his inspiration from the works of artists such as Vermeer, J.L. David, J.S. Sargent and 19th-century Realist painters, whose paintings range between naturalism and impressionism, where a portrait or figure painting might contain a narrative or a landscape that focuses the viewer’s attention.

AFCA SCA