We were lucky to catch up with Riley Doyle recently and have shared our conversation below.

Riley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have slowly been learning how to make images since I was very young. My mother was a high school art teacher and always encouraged us to explore art. In high school I was mainly doing black and white film photography and graphic design. I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding, so the designs on skateboards and snowboards was the gateway to these forms of image making and I took classes in both throughout all of high school. In college I did my BFA in printmaking. It was similar to graphic design and photography, but a little closer to the hand made touch. Looking back, I wish I had chosen my college a bit more carefully. I unknowingly assumed all art programs would be roughly similar, and that your art education is really about what you, the student, brings to the table. I didn’t realize just how important what the instructor brings to the table also. My college art department was heavily conceptual. I finished there with very little foundational skills. I then complete an atelier program in Seattle, WA. where I had finally felt that I had gained the training I needed. I had also began to see the bigger picture, that the artistic path I was on was really a life long pursuit, so there was no need for rushing the learning process, since it never ends. I had also gained some perspective on my initial conceptual training and began to treasure it equally. I think the ideal order would be to build you skill based foundations first and then do a deep dive into modernism and conceptualism.

Now, as I am still learning and seeking mentorship and input from people and books and paintings, and anything else, I would say that it is essential to the learn the ‘how’, the how do you control your medium, the how do you make it look real, the how do you make it look interesting, and the ‘why’, the why are you doing what you’re doing, the why does this matter to you, the why would someone look at this. I had to learn these things from different school both for years of study, and yet, the thing that has been most important to my practice, after all the training, is embracing these things as mysterious and malleable. In other words, the most exciting paintings for me to create are the ones where I don’t quite know how I am going to pull it off, or why I am doing it.

Riley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a painter, mainly working in oils, but I will use acrylic or gouache from time to time as well. I paint representationally, meaning my paintings are meant to represent real things we see in real life, though they are not always completely realistic. I would say I mainly paint en plein air, so outdoors, on location. But also I work in my studio from photo references or, ideally, but not often enough, I work from a model from life. My subjects range from landscapes to figures to still lives to interior scenes. It can really be anything that catches my eye, but I would my real subject in my paintings is light, and how it interacts with the world around us. How it revels things to us, and how it can suggest our attention.

My paintings tend to be relatively small in size, generally ranging from 11″ x14″ to 30″ x 40″.

I was trained in a classical realism tradition of painting, where I studied from a live model 5 days per week for years. This figurative training, even though I do not always paint people, has provided me with a thorough understanding of my medium and the mechanics of building a formally successful image. In recent years I have been exploring other, less academic, formalities that other corners of the art world provide so that I may try to merge my academic training with a desire to gain a deeper understanding of my personal authenticity as it relates to paint, to seeing, and to my relationship with image making.

In my career so far I have been recognized within some of the realist artist competition circles. Some of my proudest accolades would be receiving a Certificate of Excellence in 2020’s International Portrait Competition from The Portrait Society of America, winning ‘Best under 30’ in the Plein Air Magazine’s Plein Air Salon several times between 2018 and 2020, recieving the Stobart Foundation Grant in 2017, and attending the Hudson River Fellowship in 2016.

Several years have passed since I have put myself and my work back out into the competition circuit due to the pandemic and the birth of my son. Both things have strongly altered the work that I make. I would say the last few years have been about regrouping, experimenting and growing into unknown spaces both as a painter and as a person. And as the dust begins to settle a bit from the new parenthood shift, I feel very excited about the paintings I am feeling called to make.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

This is an interesting question. I actually have made a few NFTs of my work to explore the space a bit. I’ve always been someone who would rather try something out myself instead of listening to the advice of others. I had started hearing about NFTs in 2020 and went through the process of minting one to experience the whole process. It was a bit confusing at first, but I got through it. Since my first one, the process has become quite a bit simpler and thankfully, the process has also become environmentally friendly. I have made a total of maybe 3 NFTs, and have traded a few people so I think I own maybe 2 or 3.

I am not actively making them or considering them as an income source right now, however. I went through the process of making and trading them, which was fine, but when it came time to try to sell them, I realized I would have to put a lot more time and effort into it to break into the NFT community and become seen in the space. I just didn’t have the time for it.

I think being an artist is really about having multiple revenue streams, and NFTs seems like it would be a good additional stream to physical art sales, print sales, teaching, and subscriptions. I just don’t have the time for it currently.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I hear this question a lot, and I think the answer is really simple. Buy original art from artists. Go to art walks, visit galleries, find artists on Instagram and visit artists’ websites. Ask artists for prices, you will probably be surprised. Artists rarely OVER value their work, so don’t be too concerned about being ripped off, most artists under value their work, especially in the beginning.

Don’t be intimidated by art, you don’t have to ‘get it’ you just have to know if you like it or not.

Start small.

Get on artist’s email lists.

And finally, if you find an artist you like, tell your friends about them, share their work! Word of mouth and sharing things on social media is so beneficial, especially in an age where artists are battling algorithms for visibility.

Contact Info:

• Website: rileydoyleart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rileydoyleart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rileydoyleart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-doyle-a8319a80/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rileydoyleart1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1WpxsUAZQ7AN6RB_OXskA
• Other: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rileydoyleart