Richard D. Thomas was a renowned Western painter who found his inspiration for his paintings from the lifestyle he lived in California, Colorado, and Montana. Commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1962, serving in Vietnam in 1965, Thomas became a professional artist in the 70's. Thomas is nationally recognized for his images of contemporary working cowboys, western landscapes, cow ponies, and Native American warriors. An outdoor painter, he immersed himself completely in his subject
More
Richard D. Thomas was a renowned Western painter who found his inspiration for his paintings from the lifestyle he lived in California, Colorado, and Montana. Commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1962, serving in Vietnam in 1965, Thomas became a professional artist in the 70's. Thomas is nationally recognized for his images of contemporary working cowboys, western landscapes, cow ponies, and Native American warriors. An outdoor painter, he immersed himself completely in his subject matter, becoming a part of what is conveyed on the canvas
Education
• Arizona State University, 1961
Selected Exhibitions
• Autry National Center, Masters of the American West, Los Angeles, CA, 2007-2014
• National Museum of Wildlife Art, Western Visions, Jackson, WY
• Artists of America Show, Denver, CO
• Arts for the Parks, 1987, 1988
Selected Press
• Art of the West, January/February, 2012
• Western Art Collector, April, 2011
• Art of the West, April, 2009
• Art of the West, July/August, 2003
• Southwest Art, June, 2002
• Art of the West, April, 2001
Awards & Honors
• C.M. Russell Art Auction, Best of Show, Great Falls, MT, 2007
• Autry National Center, Masters of the American West, Purchase Award, Los Angeles, CA, 2000
• National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Prix De West Purchase award, Oklahoma City, OK, 1990
• National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Robert Lougheed Award, Oklahoma City, OK 1996
• Autry National Center, Masters of the American West, Thomas Moran Gold Medal, Los Angeles, CA, 1999
• Arts for the Parks, Regional Winner, 1988
Selected Collections
• National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY
• National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
Less
