Richard Stone Art

about my work

"Color is a power which directly influences the soul." ~Wassily Kandinsky

the 100 leaves project

I have been fascinated by the unique quality of each and every leaf and for many years produced large acrylic paintings of individual leaves. In the 100 leaves project, I am using a photograph of a tulip poplar leaf as my starting point and using that image to explore the infinite number of color expressions one leaf can provide. It has become a spiritual practice for me, and I have been producing at least two or three of these paintings every week. I hope you find them as intriguing as I have found them exciting to produce.

mixed media

In my early work over thirty years ago, I experimented with oil pastels creating an under painting, then covering it over with pastels, and concluded by using a variety of tools to scratch into the surface to reveal aspects of the earlier work. Digital tools now allow me to replicate that process, combining photographic images with over painting, and then using tools to erase portions of that painting to reveal something that heretofore was hidden, yet waiting to be expressed gloriously at times, and subtly at other times, but always filled with the joy of expression and revelation.

painting

Some years ago I embarked on a journey of experimentation with form, color, and energy, exploring textures and the ways that light can reach into our psyches and provide us an experience that is in many ways more real than anything our senses could serve up when walking in nature. I also endeavor in these works to intimate natural forms and at times the hidden form that underlies all things.

macro photography

William Blake once said: “To see a World in a Grain of Sand. And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand. And Eternity in an hour." For me this quote sums up my approach to photography. In the smallest details lives the breadth of the universe. I have found that the discovery of looking closely at trees has opened me to more than just the minute details filled with beauty that surround each of us every moment of the day; they are a window to something far deeper and grander than can be expressed in words. The subtlety of form and color and texture remind me of broader patterns that stretch all the way into the cosmos. These delights are waiting for you. Enjoy.

Richard Stone bio

Richard Stone has been exploring the realms of color and form for nearly forty years as a painter and photographer focusing on macro views of tree bark and lichen. After a short stint as a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the mid-1970s, he has been working as a painter while pursuing many other interests including creating story-based products for fun and entertainment, such as the award-winning board game Pitch-A-Story and StoryCare which is now being used in the world of nursing education to better prepare students to manage the complex human factors that can lead to patient harm.

Richard is also an author and he has been writing about the power of storytelling for the past 25 years. His most recent book, Story Intelligence, he co-authored with Scott Livengood. Learn more at www.storyintelligence.com. Other books including The Healing Art of Storytelling and Stories: The Family Legacy are still available. In addition, he has been writing fiction for these past twenty-five years, and his works include The Kingdom of Nowt and he has recently completed a screenplay entitled The Maggid which is based on the life of the Jewish mystic the Baal Shem Tov who lived in the 18th century. He has adopted the story for the stage. To learn more, go to www.maggidtales.com. In addition to these creative pursuits, Richard is currently the CEO of StoryWork International whose mission is to assist leaders and organizations to realize their fullest potential using the power of story.