Watercolor Artist - USA (2019-12)

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Meet the Artist

RichardHanson(rhansonwatercolors.com),ofFort

Dodge,Iowa,studiedarteducationattheUniversityof

NorthernIowaandearnedhismaster’sdegreeinstudio

artfromMinnesotaStateUniversityin1976.Hewasa

drawingandpaintinginstructoratIowaCentral

CommunityCollegebeforerecentlyretiring,andhe

taughtarttojuniorhigh,highschoolandcollege

studentsfor 46 years.Hisaward-winningworkhas

appearedinnumerousnationalexhibitions.

Th e light in Hanson’s paintings
receives as much of his attention as
the dark. “I don’t ignore any kind of
light—bright lights, lights that radi-
ate diff erent colors, refl ected light—
I don’t overlook any of them,” he
says. “I just replicate them for the
painting.” Hanson softens edges but
doesn’t scrub to create light eff ects.
Instead, he carefully observes every
aspect of the light he’s conveying.
“If there’s a hint of yellow surround-
ing a white light, or if there’s a
yellow-orange aura around a street
lamp, I paint that,” he says.
Cars and other vehicles appear on
Hanson’s streets, so he’s become
skilled at painting the refl ected light
of headlights and taillights. “If it
needs to be a bright red, I go with
cadmium color; I can’t go wrong with
those. I like scarlet lake, too,” Hanson
says. “If I want it bright, it’s got to be
really bright. I can get away with the
high contrast of the darks and lights
in the scene. A bright red will balance
out the bright white.”

In View From Ponte

Santa Trinita

(watercolor on paper,

16½ x24), Hanson

places the viewer on

the famous bridge in

Florence (the world’s

oldest of the elliptic

arch design), looking

to where it leads. The

strong sense of linear

perspective is

reinforced by the

bright white light

refl ections that

illuminate the street

into the vanishing

point. “The red

refl ections create

warmth and interest,”

he says.

Process and Patience

Within all the defi nition in Hanson’s night scenes, he

leaves some areas and fi gures less defi ned. “Detail every-

where would be overwhelming and monotonous,” he says.

“It’s a tricky balance, but one that I like.”

He admits that his way of working demands patience

and an affi nity for a tedious process, which he has come to

love. “I like sitting down and using a very small brush and

painting the minutia in front of me—just pecking away at

it,” Hanson says. “Th e detail in my work is what I believe

separates mine from somebody else’s.” WA

Stefanie Laufersweiler is a freelance writer and editor living

in Cincinnati.