The Nature of Things: Paintings by Richard Schmidt presents a focused selection of oil paintings by artist Richard Schmidt, whose work reflects a lifelong engagement with color, light, texture, and the quiet power of the natural world.

A longtime painter in both oil and watercolor, Schmidt draws inspiration from places he has visited, often beginning with on-site sketches or reference photographs gathered during his travels. His paintings are completed in the studio, where observation is transformed through memory, atmosphere, and interpretation. Trees, rocks, streams, wooded paths, flowers, and weathered natural forms become more than subjects; they become studies in presence, surface, and spirit.

Schmidt’s background as a chemist, color consultant, and paint-industry professional informs his deep sensitivity to pigment, luminosity, and material. In his oil paintings, he uses wet-on-wet technique and a modified pointillist approach to build images that shimmer with movement while retaining the solidity and texture of the physical world. His work invites viewers to slow down, look closely, and enter the landscape—not only as scenery, but as an experience of light, time, and feeling.

In The Nature of Things, Schmidt explores what endures within what is constantly changing: the density of stone, the reach of trees, the movement of water, the warmth of an autumn day, and the fleeting effects of sunlight across the land. The exhibition offers a contemplative view of nature as both familiar and profound, grounded in observation and enriched by memory.