Richard lane began to develop an interest in Marine Art and history at a very young age, spending summers in cape Cod Cod and Nantucket, Massachusetts. He studied fine art and Illustration at The School Of Visual Arts in New York City receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After art college Richard worked for ten years at a decorative design studio in NYC specializing in Trompel’ Oeil, murals, wall paper design and decorative oil paintings. In 1995 he gave up his career in the decorative arts to devote full time to painting his favorite subject.
Richard’s keen interest in American nautical history has been the inspiration for his work as a fine artist. It is the romantic yet powerful yachts of past America’s Cup races, as well as the graceful fishing schooners of Gloucester and Boston that he so effectively captures on canvas. He does extensive research for his paintings, using museum ship models, old photographs from museum archives and actual blue prints of the boats themselves. Sixteen years ago he started building wooden ship models from scratch so he could understand the construction of the boats and the mechanics of the rigging. Richard is a member of the “Ship Model Society of New Jersey”. He strives for absolute accuracy in his paintings.
Lane paints mainly in acrylic’s although sometimes he does paint in oils. For the intricate detail in Richards paintings, acrylics is the best choice for him. “When I’m excited on what I am paintings, I want instant results”. ” With the slow drying time of oil paints , acrylic’s suit my needs”.