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Friday December 05, 2008 11:01 AM -0700
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Friday December 05, 2008 11:01 AM -0700 |
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The
Star*Lite Story…
I
started taking my first commissions for oil paintings when I was fifteen years
old. Most of my early commissioned
paintings were created of general aviation private aircraft.
I started working as a line boy for Aircraft Rental Center at Jeffco
Airport near Denver. My price for
an 11 by 14-inch oil painting on canvas board was $25.00 to $35.00 each, framed.
They sold as fast as I could create them.
I kept logs on all the paintings but lost touch with most of my early
collectors. I still have the logs and photos of several of my earliest
paintings. Most
of this early art is now quite valuable today. I have recently located a few of
these early collectors, but only a few of the early paintings survived.
The Ballantyne's have several originals including one or a Harley
Davidson motorcycle and their once brand new Piper Cherokee.
Some of the pilots who commissioned my earliest works told me their
paintings were discarded, sold in garage sales, or lost in divorces. One mural sized painting I created when I was
seventeen years old was of a Beechcraft Model 18 (former USAF C-45G) in civilian
colors. I remember the painting
quite well and my logs show it was a 36 by 48-inch painting on Masonite board.
The fellow I painted it for does not remember what ever happened to it. From
my earliest childhood memories there was but one goal in life. To be a pilot. I
started flying when I was seven years old. My best friend John Lee Ballantyne's
dad owned Stinson Station Wagon. One
day Mr. Ballantyne asked me if I wanted to go flying. (Note he
did not ask me if I wanted to take an airplane ride.)
Parental permission was granted and I was strapped into the right seat of
the big Maroon airplane. A
few years later the Ballantyne's took delivery of a brand-new 1959 Cessna 182. I
went flying hundreds of times with the Ballantyne family.
John Lee's younger brother Glenn reflected on those days in a letter he
submitted to the Colorado Aviation Historical Society.
Glenn wrote: "Rick grew
up in aviation Dad always looked for Rick and Rick for dad whenever there was
time to be at the airport. They shared an insatiable appetite for airplanes. Rick's
nickname was "Radar" because Rick could sense when dad was thinking
about going flying. Rick surely logged hundreds of hours as a preteen riding
copilot with dad." It's hard for me to remember flying without Rick in the
plane with us." John
Lee and I won a local model building contest and won flying lessons at Pueblo
Memorial Airport. I flew many hours
with two pillows needed to see over the instrument panel.
Formal fight training began when I was 14.
When I was 15, 1 took my life savings and borrowed money from my folks to
purchase several shares in a flying club at Jeffco Airport near Denver. My
ownership shares enabled me to be a part owner of several aircraft. I
really enjoyed painting for the relaxation and pure joy and satisfaction I felt
from creating art. I would take my paintings to the airport and sell or trade
them to pilots to pay for my flying lessons and build up flying time. In
addition, I probably created over a hundred aviation paintings while in high
school. This enabled me to solo on my sixteenth birthday. I also logged my 300th
hour of flight time on that memorable day. A large group of family and friends
were at Jeffco on that Saturday. I
was surprised my first solo flight would be a bigger deal than even I had
expected. Someone had notified the
press and the Denver Post dispatched a writer and photographer to capture the
event in the paper. The next day
the Denver Post carried a full-page feature on my solo flight including several
photos. I was an instant celebrity.
If pilots around Denver did not know me before October 13, 1962, they did the
next day. The
Post Reported: "Richard
celebrated his 16th birthday Saturday and also made his solo flight after six
years of planning and saving. He flew solo in a Piper Colt for more than a
half-hour making four perfect takeoffs and landings in the process at Jefferson
County Airport. He was able to solo Saturday because obliging Federal Aviation
Authorities opened their offices -- normally closed Saturday -- to give the
eager youth his necessary certificate."
After
I soloed and while I was still sixteen-years old, I checked out in nine
different aircraft including the Piper Comanche, Cessna 182, and twin engine
Cessna 310. This was before I had a driver's license! My paintings took on new
meaning to me and I would create original paintings based upon solo flights made
in my airplanes. I
was signed off and cleared to make cross-country flights flying from Denver to
Pueblo to see my Dad several times. On
one flight in the summer of 1963, I had my first real in-flight emergency.
The engine of my Cessna 182 failed over Castle Rock. Later inspection would reveal it had swallowed a valve in the
number six cylinder. I declared an
emergency and was given vectors to the closest airport.
The oil pressure was reading zero and the engine felt like it was going
to shake itself apart. It was still
developing power. When I was lined
up on final approach at Columbine Airport the engine finally quit.
The windscreen was covered with oil. My
early experiences in aviation helped me to develop the sense of accuracy in my
original paintings. Much of my
flight time was logged at night. I would takeoff before the sun came up and fly
to the East of Denver just to watch the sunrise. My painting style continued to
evolve. COLLEGE
DAYS AND FLYING I
followed the development of the Air Force Academy from when construction first
started. I was twelve years old
when the Class of 1959 became the first class to graduate. I had originally set my sights on attending the academy.
I fell in love with my childhood sweetheart, Billie.
Academy cadets are prohibited from being married.
Billie and I were married on December 20, 1965.
We decided Northrop Institute of Technology in Inglewood, California
offered the best college education I could receive in preparation for an
airline-flying career. Our
honeymoon was spent driving to Los Angeles and setting up housekeeping. Two
years later our first child Lisa Kay was born. Billie
and I both found jobs. I went to
work as a bag buster with Continental Airlines at Los Angeles International
Airport (LAX). I will never forget
what it was like to load fresh Wall Street Journals in the belly of a Boeing 707
for a direct flight to Houston! I
majored in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and obtained both Airframe and
Powerplant mechanic ratings from the FAA when I was twenty-one years old.
These were tough years on Billie and I.
We both worked full time jobs on different shifts; in addition, I was
attending college full-time. A few days after I got my A&P ratings I was hired by FLYING
TIGERS as an A&P mechanic. TIGERS
headquarters were on the West End of LAX and I worked in heavy maintenance. As
soon as I had some good experience, I applied for a job with UNITED
AIRLINES. I went to work for them in November 1968.
These were some of the most wonderful days of our lives.
I absolutely loved my job with United and was soon qualified for gate
assignment. I was the youngest A&P flight line mechanic in Los Angeles. I
took some of my paintings to work and was encouraged to put a display of my art
in the crew lounge at LAX. I have
written many fond memories of those days from our youth in our website section
about Flying I
continued
to paint aviation art for pleasure from 1965 to 1969. I did not have the time to wait for my oil paintings to dry
and taught myself how to paint with temperas.
Shortly after that, I decided I wanted to try out the then new acrylic
paints. Here was my medium!
I could create a painting on canvas like an oil painting but not have to
endure the long drying times. I
read every art book I could find on the subject. In
late 1968, I took some of my paintings to work and was encouraged to put a
display of my art in the crew lounge at LAX.
This was when my professional art career was actually born.
Airline pilots commissioned paintings in great quantity. Most of the
early orders were for United equipment. On
my days off I would do a couple paintings, put them on display and they would be
sold in a couple days. I made many
deals with my new customers to let me keep their paintings on display until I
could paint a replacement. Soon,
I started getting commissions from senior captains for paintings of the aircraft
they had flown during World War II. Junior
pilots commissioned paintings of the jets they had flown during military tours
with the Navy and Air Force. The
display was very popular with the airline crews and I would easily sell ten
paintings a month. My
art was still buying me flying time. Fate allotted a career as an artist,
however. I just did not know it for years. Which is why I say, "I didn't
choose this career. It chose me!
WORKING
WITH LIGHT, COLOR, AND UNITED AIRLINES I
learned how light and color work in nature by reading books. Blacklight was used
in a number of amusement parks and attractions around the LA area and a very
popular special lighting effect in Hollywood. Close attention was paid to the
"E ticket rides" in Disneyland. We
went there many times. The
amusement park made extensive use of blacklight as part of their show. The
Disney "Imagineers" owns patents in the use of ultraviolet lighting.
The Disney Studios also pioneered using blacklighting in their exhibits.
For years, I tried to get appointments with their art people to learn how they
did their special effects but they would never talk to me. My
paintings continued to improve with each new commission but my dream and career
goal was to be an airline pilot. In 1969, I was accepted as a Fight Officer
candidate with United. I stepped up
my flying time logging hundreds of hours flying in the Los Angeles area during
my college days. I had not finished
college when the key to the cockpit offer was made. I was in my junior year of college and had logged about a
thousand hours by then. My
full-time college classes allowed me a student deferment from the draft.
United was unable to secure a critical job deferment for me and I was
called back to my hometown for a pre induction physical. ENGINEERING
AND ART United
had an excellent military leave of absence program, however I would be unable to
complete the 12 week night officer school before being inducted for military
service. During my pre-induction physical, it was discovered I had a bleeding
ulcer. I was declared unfit for
military service and issued a 4F-draft deferment. Returning from Colorado to Los Angeles my personal physician
determined the combination of full-time college and full-time work was
responsible for me getting sick and ordered rest. I took a short medical leave
of absence from United for much needed R&R.
In
1970, I obtained a first class medical certificate and notified the company.
United again scheduled me into flight training in Denver. We moved back
to Colorado in early 1971 only to learn my scheduled training class had been
suspended because of a slow down in the economy. I
had a backlog of over 50 commissions on hand and we believed it would not be
long before starting flight training. I was granted leave of absence from United
maintenance and took a chance on being able to support my family from the income
my paintings would generate. I have made my living as an artist since then. 526
pilots were eventually furloughed from United.
In 1976, United contacted me to update my files as an employee on leave
of absence. At that time, I advised United that I wanted to keep my
leave of absence active. In
1984, I received my last and final recall notice.
Many times I have reflected back on those years and wondered where we
would be if the furloughs had never happened.
My seniority would have allowed me to make Captain in the 1970s and I am
sure I would be flying the Boeing 747-400 or Boeing 777 by now.
I still dream of flying and still fly airplanes from time to time. My
logs showed over 2000 hours were logged in 41 different aircraft; most of it
before 1976. PAINTING
STYLE AND TECHNIQUE Light
and color are really two different subjects. Yet the primary goal in a fine art
painting is to create a two dimensional visual image that imitates the light
effects of nature. The artist uses color to imitate light. There are many
different ways that an artist can attempt to duplicate nature but no matter how
color is mixed in a painting, that color is subtractive. My experimentation with
color resulted in the accidental discovery of how the Old World Masters painted.
I
could have read about it in a book but the knowledge came by trial and error.
Twenty years after I developed my style I found out the techniques I used were
ancient! I was pleased to know I had reinvented the wheel. Most
all color an artist uses is transparent out of the tube. It is generally agreed
that the most beautiful qualities of color are m its transparent state with
light shining through to a white under-painting. Holding a beautiful color
transparency up to the light and looking through it shows more to your eye than
a color photograph of the same scene will. This is a good comparison of how my
painting style differs from other artists. Most artists mix color on the palette
or directly on their canvas putting it on in one heavy coat. Today
most artists use a technique of mixed pigments. All pigments, whether opaque or
transparent, are treated as if opaque by most painters, The colored pigment is
applied in such thick layers that transparency is deliberately lost. This is
actually preferred by art critiques that term this as "painterly."
Their aim is to make the layer of paint so thick and dense that transparency is
deliberately lost. Their aim is to make the layer of color so dense and
concentrated that no previous layer of paint will ever show through it. This is
why you see brush strokes in painterly works of art. The technique has a
secondary benefit. It is very easy to achieve the desired results and quite easy
to create. It takes far less time to do than my style of painting requires. I
mix the same colors but apply it in extremely thin coats over other colors that
are deliberately chosen to react with the hue and pigment applied later. The
individual coats are sealed in place with glazes and transparent clear acrylic
sprays. These separate applications of color are called underpaintings. I may
use as many as fifty coats of paint to get the desired results.
In my 1998 original painting
Red
Storm Flight
the brilliant sunrise required over 200 coats of
paint to achieve the results I wanted. My technique is slow, meticulous, and quite difficult to replicate. It requires a deliberate pre planned strategy. It is also the hardest style of fine art to create. The great American artist Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) was the master I followed here. |
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