ELLA Walton Richardson Fine Art is home to dozens of award-winning and highly collectable national and international artists. Richardson recently added impressionist oil painter Richard Oversmith, who received formal training in fine art and illustration at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While at Kendall, he was invited to study at the Royal College of Art in London, where he gained experience in plein air painting.

Whether at home in North Carolina or abroad, Oversmith surrounds himself in the elements of the scene while painting, in true plein air fashion. In the studio, his sense of vision and mood guide him to produce still lifes ranging from classic to imaginative.

Oversmith’s paintings provoke the viewer to interact with them. His paintings are his voice, and stroke by stroke, he composes a whole that relates his vision. He strives to achieve a mood in every painting through the use of color, edges, value and drawing. Oversmith’s style is derived from a lifelong study of past masters, the influence of contemporary painters he admires and elements that have evolved from within himself. He allows the setting to speak to him, using only as many brushstrokes as needed for the viewer’s eyes to understand and connect.