Rick Hurst
Artist Bio
My childhood refuge was to immerse myself in the natural world around me — experiencing the beauty of nature, the vibrancy of color, and the variety of architecture. This eventually led to a 1982 Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Art History from the University of Southern Mississippi, and to a 1984 Summer Course in Illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York, NY. Not finding a job in the arts field, I joined the federal government in the mid-80s, and eventually retired in Washington, DC as a paralegal.
After moving to the Gulf Coast of Alabama, I converted my new garage into an artist’s studio and revived my talents in acrylics and watercolors and my interest in abstract forms. I participated in art markets, artists’ co-ops, galleries, and art shows, even winning awards and mounting a 6-month one-man show. All these venues were in multiple cities in Alabama and western Florida.
To satisfy my cravings for new avenues of creativity, I began experimenting with digital photos of nature, architecture, and my own artwork, altering colors and combining images in multiple overlays. By the time I moved to St Petersburg, Florida in 2016, I was wholly committed to the digital photography art world.
Now my tools for expressing myself as an artist have changed: I work with clean hands — no brushes, no pencils, no splattered acrylics, watercolors, or oils — and I can take new photographs and work digitally from any location.
My photography captures the beauty and spirit of nature and the real world. I meld these into digital artworks using multiple exposures, layers, color transformations, and advanced art filters – images that may live through many iterations.
Each digital image is my personal expression of inspiration from the real world, explored and revealed through my own artistic imagination.