The Artist of Everything
Inspiration is ever flowing for lifelong artist Russell Reid. After more than 50 years working as a professional artist, architect and educator, he relentlessly pursues greater and more elaborate creative and design challenges, following his muse wherever his imagination leads.
“My interests are a mile a minute,” he said. “My albatross has been staying focused long enough to complete a project or interest before moving on to the next thing.”
Reid, a globally celebrated artist who has mastered scores of artistic styles and mediums, believes that creativity and interests are cyclical outlets of expression. With that perspective, he rejects the idea of limiting himself to a specific niche.
His portfolio is vast, including building -size architectural murals and large scale art in the styles of Trompe L’Oeil, Grisaille and Fresco Secco; technical and architectural rendering and illustration; commercial art and advertising, book illustration, environmental graphic design, assemblage art concepts, stained glass design, fine art drawing and painting, journaling, and more over the decades.
His current passion is digital painting, specifically hyper-realistic art that at first glance looks like a photograph. His present subject is vintage cars, painstakingly drawn pixel by pixel with a pen and iPad, accurate down to the reflection of the sky or trees in the chrome bumpers.
“I love the challenge,” Reid said. “I push myself to see how closely and accurately I can push the technical aspect of the end result.”
He’s also recently completed a wall-sized 3D mandala painting/ installation in the College of Architecture, complete with lights and woodwork.
“I learned to do some electrical work in that process,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. Every project one takes on should be a teaching and learning opportunity. No one is ever too old to learn new things.”
Reid’s passionate artistic spirit has made his classes hugely popular among students, who regularly send him work for review and thoughts after graduation.
“That is the absolute greatest compliment,” he said. “To see that they were inspired to continue their interests and work.”
