Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rick Grime. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rick, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I joined the Air Force shortly after 9/11/01, but by 2010 or so, I was looking for a different career path. When I finally left service in 2014 I knew that whatever I did next would have to be related to visual art in some way. I had never painted before then, but I applied my years of pencil & pen illustration and slowly figured out how to paint. I threw lots of different ideas at the canvas, and over the course of 4 or 5 years developed an abstract geometric style that felt right.

Rick, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a visual artist, and I paint in an abstract geometric style. I became an artist by giving myself a chance at a creative career after years of deferring to more traditional pursuits. I have participated in public and private gallery exhibitions and painted a few murals, but primarily I create paintings on commission for individual buyers.

I am proud of a few things regarding my work. First, I willed it into existence. Once I left my Air Force career, I dedicated myself to painting, and have built my own style. I had help: I made friends who supported me by allowing me to hang art on their walls, by buying my work, and by sharing my work on social media. Second, my inspiration springs from a life-long contemplation about what masculinity means to me. My visual style represents a desire to rebel against the gendered conditioning that caused disharmony in my life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Creatives of all types have to deal with rejection. I have experienced it a lot on this journey, but I pick myself up and keep going. I think part of my motivation is a compulsion to paint. It’s like I don’t have a choice, so I keep doing it, and keep trying, and inevitably things work out and the opportunities come. But I have had my fair share of stinging rejections: the big projects that were in the final planning stages until they weren’t, the buyers who asked for a painting then backed out at the last minute, the many grants applied for that didn’t come through, the solo shows proposed where the gallery went with someone else, etc. Another painter told me years ago: “Keep going. Someone wants to see your work, you just have to get it in front of them.”

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of painting is, hands down, when a buyer gets their finished piece and I get to watch their reaction as they see it for the first time. My process involves a sketching phase, so they know what the design will be, but it’s a different experience seeing it up close.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rickgrimeart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickgrime_/