Richard Hall Sharon Hall

I graduated from the University of Hull in England with a BFA in painting, poised to become an art teacher. Instead, I moved to the United States in 1978 to pursue my dream of becoming a painter, and have been a professional artist ever since. For part of my art career, I painted large abstracts. A turning point came in 2006 when I had a mild heart attack. I realized that although I was a successful abstract painter, I wasn’t truly challenged. I had always loved realism, and decided to “follow my heart” and paint what I loved. I love the intimacy of still life painting. I spend hours searching antique stores for interesting objects, and occasionally find vintage toys to bring home for my four young granddaughters. One day, I had a traditional still life composition set up in my studio, and I discovered that my two-year old granddaughter had placed one of her vintage toys into my setup. My first reaction was to laugh, but I quickly realized that adding an unexpected object to a still life created humour and interest. With a wink, a smile, and a bit of that famous English sense of humour, I tell stories with my paintings. Whether painting model cars hanging from string, vintage toy trucks filled with vegetables, or elaborate Rube-Goldberg type contraptions, my collectors know to “expect the unexpected.”