Name/Title
AWE Open Studios - Richard Newman - 51 Escher StreetDescription
I am a semi-retired administrative law judge living and working in San Francisco. In addition to my legal career, I have had a lifelong passion for learning about and creating art. I began sketching and cartooning when I was very young, and in later years I became more interested in painting. I haven't had much formal training, but a few classes over the years have helped hone my skills.
I am inspired by artists whose work contains a hint of mystery or ambiguity, such as Paul Klee, August Macke, Richard Diebenkorn and Edward Hopper. I especially like works, including many by Hopper, that depict a certain narrative with respect to the figures or settings depicted. There is a sense in these works that something significant has just happened or is about to happen, and I try to incorporate this sense of tension in my own work. I often start from photos or copies of paintings by other artists, but my imagination eventually takes over and--this is the intriguing part of the process for me--I'm never sure what will ultimately emerge.
