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Roderick Smith
323-221-0442
www.rodericksmith.com
Roderickvlsmith@gmail.com
Roderick Smith’s first inspiration to take up painting came from his grandmother with whom he visited as a child after arriving in New York from Gibraltar. She was a stage actress and a passionate artist, and it was while staying with her that he first laid eyes on the tools and artifacts of a real painter.
He remembers that still-life objects of everything imaginable were strewn on tables and stacked on shelves. There were canvases piled against the walls, some finished, some just begun, and vases holding brushes, jars filled with odd liquids and art books everywhere; about Bonnard, Cézanne, Braque and Matisse. Robert Henri's 'The Art Spirit,' was the very first book on art I can remember reading."
After a few months he returned with his family to Spain where he was given his first oil painting set by his mother. Thrilled, he first began to make copies of very old, small Spanish works his mother found in the back street markets of Seville and then, wherever they traveled, he would sketch what he saw along the way.
In 1973 Roderick graduated with his BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology and worked in commercial design for three years. In 1977 he journeyed to Alaska and in 1980 returned to New York to continue his studies at the Art Students League.
"It was then that the floodgates suddenly opened. I was studio-painting mornings and nights and roaming the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum every afternoon."
He spent the following winter studying drawing and painting at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
In 1981 Roderick moved to Portland, Oregon and settled down with his wife, doll artist Linda Miller. Together they developed a thriving doll company called Cadena Studios and for the next decade Roderick's creative energies were focused towards this enterprise.
In 1994, an art festival in Miami Beach, reignited his interest in painting. Over seven days he produced 148 charcoal drawings of people on the boardwalk.
"It was as if my hands were ablaze. It came out of nowhere. I returned to Portland distracted and convinced that yet another page had turned. I buried myself in drawing the human form.”
In 1999 Roderick had his first solo show exhibiting charcoals and watercolors that featured dancers, musicians and circus performers all done from 'live' sketches."
Re-inspired, he set out with paints and easel to paint ‘plein air’, capturing the landscapes through the changing seasons and in all weathers.
Painting mostly in oils he reveals in his landscapes the lucidity of the moment. They are impressionistic in style; the light is radiant and clear; the colors vibrant- often exploding into chaos.
INSTRUCTION IN ART
private lessons in painting and drawing in all mediums.
my purpose in teaching is to assist individuals in finding
“the spirit of art” in their creative lives.
for more information please feel free to reach me through my contact info
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* None of the artworks may be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the Artist