Original painting by Rick J. Delanty.

A California native, Rick J. Delanty has been painting landscapes and seascape for over three decades. Paralleling his painting career, he taught advanced painting and drawing in public education until 2006. He terms his style "expressionistic realism," an exuberant calligraphy of color and brushstroke which conveys emotion and movement within a realistic setting.

Delanty's work has been included in invitational plein air events across the West, and has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the nation. Delanty has received awards at regional, national and international levels, including Finalist "Best Acrylic" in the Septemaber 2016 Plein Air Salon, Best of Show in 2014 from Plein Air Magazine editor Stephen Doherty in "The American Landscape" national exhibition, twice Outstanding Acrylic in the international "Boldbrush" painting competition, Best of Show in the 2013 ISAP Online Exhibition, Best of Show at the Borrego Plein Air Invitational, two awards in the Sedona Invitational, the Peterson Award at the annual exhibition of the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, and both the Boseker and Surfrider awards at the Laguna Plein Air Invitational at the Laguna Art Museum. Rick served as curator for the "California Impressionism" show in 2015 at the Huntington Beach Art Center in California, selecting over 100 paintings for a contemporary nation-wide exhibition of artist-members from the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association.

In the past two years, his work has been selected for fifteen national shows, including the Plein Air Salon, Art Renew Center, Oil Painters of America, California Art Club, American Impressionist Society, Boldbrush International Painting Competition, National Art Muse Competition, National Oil and Acrylic Painters, and International Society of Acrylic Painters.This fall, his painting, "Aspen Tree Stand" was awarded second prize in Art Renewal Center's "International Plein Air Challenge," sponsored by California Plein Air Painters Association.

In February of 2016 he was a participating artist in the Maui Invitational, Hawaii. Rick was also selected for the ninth time to participate in the Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational this October, 2016.

Sharing knowledge of plein air painting with the next generation is also important to the artist, as he was a high school drawing and painting instructor for over three decades. Rick donates time to assist in the educational outreach of Laguna Plein Air Painters, in teaching both adults and schoolchildren. Rick also teaches adult workshops through a local art center and the California State Park system.

Rick is an Artist member of the California Art Club, and a Signature member of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and Signature member of both the International Society of Acrylic Painters and the American Impressionist Society. He is active as well in Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA), and is a juried member of both Landscape Artists International and the Salmagundi Art Club of New York. Along with several other artists from the California Art Club, Rick's work is represented by Hillside Fine Art Gallery in Claremont, California.

His work appears in Painting in Acrylics, the Indispensable Guide, by Lorena Kloosterboer, and is part of a three-page feature in Southwest Art Magazine's "Three To Watch," in this month's issue, November 2016.