Richard David Finkel

A continuing Journey

My home, for the past thirty five years, has been the Islands of Sanibel and Captiva off the Southwest Florida coast. While I grew up on the heavily urban island of Manhattan, which, is similar in size to Sanibel, I have gravitated to less developed and less populated areas. After four years of studying Environmental and Cultural Studies at a small college in Ohio followed by a few years living and working in Maine, I arrived on Sanibel Island in January of 1991 for what I thought would be a three month stay.

Whether enjoying being out on the water in Southwest Florida’s Pine Island Sound, or traveling and learning about distant cultures and environments, or within my work as an Environmental Educator, I have routinely found inspiration from nature. Nature’s light, colors, waters, shorelines, landforms, and how they all interact are constantly mystifying me with their displays that never cease to amaze.

This inspiration has recently led me to express my fascination with nature’s brilliance with watercolor painting. What started as a weekly challenge to share a painting during the Covid shutdown period, bloomed into a desire to further explore and create artistic expressions with watercolors. This challenge was initiated by my sister Vicki, a very talented ceramic artist, who is a source of inspiration through her art, her commitment, her energy and her adventuresome spirit. Her website www.vickifinkel.com is a great place to learn more about her and her ceramic artistry.

Just as I marvel at the ever changing colors of dawn and dusk, I now enjoy the process off experimenting and observing how paint flows and transforms across the paper, and I look forward to discovering where this creative journey will take me.