An American Artist Shares 30 Years Of Life's Work In 30 Paintings

Richard Reitz Smith grew up in the Appalachian foothills of rural Pennsylvania, where the changing seasons became a metaphor for where and how he lived.

"The hills simultaneously protected me from the outside world, yet kept me from it," Smith says. "The sky was a source of wonderment; a constant connection to the world beyond the crest of the hills, but ever-changing."

Maine is currently home, but his path has been shaped by venues including the greater New York City area, Arizona, the Caribbean, and various regions of Italy as well as events of discovery, attainment, and loss.

Smith shared 30 images from his ongoing exhibition "Land Marks" with Business Insider, arranged in chronological order from 1984 to 2014.

"Sprankle Mills"

"Lone Tree"

"Trinity"

"Dawn and Dusk"

"Georgetown Lighthouse"

"Summer Meadow Frenetic"

Richard Reitz Smith

"Summer Meadow Milkweed"

"Rockport"

"Red Kayak"

"Rockport Harbor"

"Aldemere Farm"

"Toward Mt. Dessert"

"Bleak Midwinter, Foxes by Ash Trees"

"Meandering Stream"

"Stetson Ranch, Sebastian, Florida"

"At The Crest"

"A Wide Valley to Cross"

"Cotuit Kayak"

"Barren"

"Dawn at the Crest"

"Skirting at the Crest"

"Anchored on Shore"

"Sunning Gulls, Dear Isle Bridge"

"Standing Alone"

"Edith and Rory at Storm Park"

"Egret's at Stetson Ranch Palm Hedge"

"Winter Arrives"

"Winter Shroud"

"Autumn Arrives Along the Penobscot"

"Buttercups and Cloudy Skies"

Richard Reitz Smith studied fine art at Carnegie Mellon University with colorist Sam Gilliam, thematic and figurative painter Mary Weidner and draftsman Herbert Olds. To that education, he brings inspirations of the Transcendentalist traditions, the Romantic painters, and brush work and color techniques of the Fauvists and Impressionists.

His show is on view the month of July at the Bangor Public Library' s Lecture Hall Gallery. He can be reached at richardreitzsmith@gmail.com