According to Don Ricks, "it's not what you paint but how you paint that counts". His are paintings of singular vision: pastoral, brilliant, impressionistic landscapes and still lifes suffusing with light, depth, and texture.

Ricks studied art at the University of Utah but postponed his art career due to fatherhood and
started a sign painting business. Finally at 39, he exchanged the sign painting brushes for oil
brushes and canvas. Ricks ran summer artist workshops at his home, one hour from Yellowstone National Park and through these experiences Ricks realized "it is vital to discover your own direction as an artist and constantly strive for that".

Ricks' still lifes offer tables laden with the fruits of the harvest, exploding with exuberant light and color. Baskets and platters of peaches, melons, and apples, all ripe for the taking, spill over onto the ground like a lush carpet. And it's all dappled through cottonwoods and aspens. It's a singular vision - a hard-won quality of focus that will continue to set Ricks' work apart from others.

Source:
Bentley Publishing Group
http://www.bentleypublishinggroup.com/bios/ricks.html

Recognized for his depiction of colorful outdoor garden views and unadorned rural scenes, Don Ricks strove for simplicity and beauty of his oil paintings. His simple still lifes and realistic yet stylistic depiction of barnyard animals and farmyard compositions remain an identifiable hallmark of his work. Rural landscapes of western settings were also favorite subjects of Ricks.

Don Ricks assisted Russian-born master painter Sergei Bongart for many years in workshops in Idaho and used the Idaho landscape as his inspiration for both pallet and composition. Ricks was also a highly regarded instructor himself, and was instrumental in affecting the careers of several prominent Western painters and artists.