Richard studied on a general fine art course at Bristol Art College from 1986-89 followed by a master's degree in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art from 1989-91, working in intaglio and lithography. Printmaking’s structure has found its way into his approach to painting from the preparation of a painting surface and hand wiping etching plates to hand wiping his paintings.

Richard is synonymous for paring down anything that is insignificant and non-essential for the image to work and he is constantly influenced by artists such as Cy Twombly, Robert Motherwell, Milton Avery, Vermeer, Turner and Rembrandt.

Richard was invited to stay at Cill Rialaig, artists residences, in Kerry. Its strong influence is prominent in his paintings, and he has returned every year since.

Closer to home in the South Downs and Sussex, the coastline has always been inspiration for his paintings. It is the amorphic nature of the landscape that he seeks to capture, and the coastal weather fronts that rapidly change the look and feel of the landscape. Known geographical detail can be expunged by a coastal mist, smudged away by a downpour, or bleached out by intense low morning or evening sun. These elements feed back into the way he manipulates the paint.

It is these transitions from one state to another that the paintings identify, small periods of time, not really a singular moment as such. The evocation of a place, perhaps in one's memories of somewhere you have been to. Recalling a feeling and sense of place during a passage of time.