The Art of Richard Wheatland

Richard has been drawing and painting almost since he was able to hold a pencil. His family background is full of artistic and engineering talent, and it was with the help of his artistically gifted Aunt that Richard first became engrossed with the world of painting.

 Richard remains largely self-taught; he was regarded as gifted art student at school but was encouraged by his parents to train for a ‘proper job’ and subsequently followed a career in engineering. The artistic ambitions remained but purely on a spare time basis. From the age of around ten, Richard started taking an interest in motor racing and aviation and following visits to air shows and motor racing events inevitably this interest was transferred into his early drawing and painting efforts. Much later it was undoubtedly the combination of Richard’s engineering and artistic talents that were to prove pivotal in his artistic career. Today his paintings have become much admired for their high level of accuracy and meticulously researched technical and historical details.

Richards first public art display was at the historical site of Brooklands Motor Course in 1982. Encouraged by the success of this first show he repeated his displays at the event for several years. Since those early showings he has exhibited at many prestigious venues, from specialist London galleries to a restaurant in Monaco and an exhibition of auto art in Connecticut USA.

Richard has become very much part of the motoring art establishment, his work is regularly featured in group art shows at well-known motor sporting venues such as Silverstone and Goodwood, after almost thirty years in the business Richards work now graces many private collections worldwide.

Many will recognise Richards’s work from his Christmas card paintings for the Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Charity ‘Ben’. Richard is a great supporter of this fine cause and has worked closely with them since 1989. His card designs have become highly sort after each year and continue to raise much-needed funds for the charity. Richard has also been involved with many other ‘Ben’ projects, limited-edition prints, newspaper advertising and brochure covers. Many of his paintings and prints have been used to raise funds for Ben and as part of that process have been signed by many famous motor racing names:- Juan Manuel Fangio, Sir Stirling Moss, Denis Jenkinson, Sir Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Murray Walker, Tony Brooks and Lord Hesketh to name but a few.

Richard has also illustrated for four books and currently has a growing range of greetings cards available for sale at both exhibition and via his website - www.Richardwheatland.com

He has become accepted in all spheres of transport art with his aviation and maritime subjects receiving ever increasing attention and it is not unusual to find a combination of land, sea and air subjects used in a single painting.

In 2010 Richard successfully exhibited with The Guild of Aviation Artists for the first time at their 40^th Annual Exhibition at The Mall Galleries in London. Following three sucessful exhibitions, where Richard has had all his maximum twelve paintings accepted as a 'friend member', Richard was promoted to 'Associate' membership status for 2013 onwards.

Richard often returns to his original love of landscape and architecture for his inspiration often marking a visit to a memorable location by committing a scene to canvas. This diversity is also reflected in the media used in his work Watercolour, Gouache, Acrylic, Oils, Conte-Pastel, Pencil, Ink and wash. Richard is happy to work in all of these and often a combination of several is employed to achieve the desired effect.

Richard is married to Jane and together they have three daughters and a granddaughter, they have lived in Worth, West Sussex since 1983.

Away from the drawing board Richard has many other interests in the world of transport history, he finds time to enjoy his 1935 Singer Le Mans sports car as an active member of the following :-

 The Vintage Sports Car Club,

The Historic Sports Car Club

The Friends of Brooklands Museum,

The Transport Trust

Singer Owners Car Club

The Guild of Aviation Artists

The Guild of Motoring Artists ‘of which he is a founder member’.

FUTURE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Richard is currently looking for help with marketing his work, over the past 30 years he has relied mainly on his one-man exhibitions at motor and aviation events and more recently using this website.

Much as he enjoys this aspect of what he does, the time has come to seek assistance in this area.

Richard would be pleased to hear from any interested parties ; Artist's Agents, Galleries and established sales outlets, interested in promoting and selling his work.

From time to time Richard is asked to give talks, lectures and displays to interested groups e.g. motor clubs, art groups, schools and colleges. These lectures can be on both an informative and/or a practical theme and have proved highly popular.

Contact details:-

Studio - 43 Oakfields, Worth, Crawley, West Sussex. RH10 7FN. England.

Telephone - 01293 885430, daytime contact number - 01293 775300,

 Fax - 01293 771722,

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For my latest 2012 paintings go to - News and Events