No more postcards from Richard

The Bainbridge artist graduates to a larger canvas for his gallery show. In 1982, Jeff and Kathe Fraga were advertising copywriters in Los Angeles. At an outdoor fair in a little Beverly Hills park, they bought their first artwork together: a pair of Richard Stine prints. “Little did we know,” Jeff Fraga said, “that we were buying them from Richard and Margaret Stine themselves.” Fast forward to 2002. The Fragas moved to Bainbridge Island and began attending art gallery openings. The Stines already had relocated here from California in 1989.

The Bainbridge artist graduates to a larger canvas for his gallery show.

In 1982, Jeff and Kathe Fraga were advertising copywriters in Los Angeles.

At an outdoor fair in a little Beverly Hills park, they bought their first artwork together: a pair of Richard Stine prints.

“Little did we know,” Jeff Fraga said, “that we were buying them from Richard and Margaret Stine themselves.”

Fast forward to 2002. The Fragas moved to Bainbridge Island and began attending art gallery openings. The Stines already had relocated here from California in 1989.

At one of Stine’s shows, the Fragas bought a painting to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

“It’s a little red car in midair attempting to cross a chasm. Will it make it? The title tells all, and certainly relates more than a little to a marriage, ‘Leap of Faith,’” Fraga said.

Leaps of faith define both couples’ lives. The Fragas opened a gallery on Winslow Way in 2004. Richard Stine – a former cartoonist for the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner, publisher of cards and author of two books – became a full-time painter.

The couples ultimately forged a friendship and Stine was part of the Fragas’ first group shows.

Now, in a solo exhibition that runs Aug. 5-27 at Gallery Fraga, the nationally acclaimed artist will exhibit his latest works in “Mapping the Cosmos” – expansive canvases that, he said, are a “pretty big departure.”

“Five years ago I decided to go back to painting. I started really small because I was used to working that way for publishing,” Stine said. “I was working with magnifying glasses on my head and thought, ‘I need to get up and breathe and walk.”

He pushed away the 3-inch-by-3-inch canvases and liberated himself size-wise, design-wise and attitude-wise. He stretched a canvas that “was bigger and taller than me,” he said, and immediately felt free.

“I taped it up to the wall and I was thrilled,” Stine said. “Maps were the jumping off point. I was on a flight from Santa Barbara looking down at the ground, at ponds, pools and land. My last show was houses, so floor plans came from that. Everything’s a map. I was turning everything on end and looking down at it, seeing patterns.”

The theme of this body of work – 25 big paintings and six small ones – is illusion. The canvases are filled with dots, L-shapes and amoeba-esque figures. Some paintings shimmer with metallic paint, others envelop 3-D layers. Shaded hues of magenta, green and red add depth and emotion.

“A lot of the work came out of New Zealand, where I was working for three months,” said Stine, whose wife, Margaret, is from that country.

These darker works don’t reflect a particular state of mind or the New Zealand scenery. Rather, they are the paint Stine had access to.

Stine loves pulling out his “inner resources” and using what’s at hand. That’s the fun part, he said, and a big adventure.

“Now I have the full orchestra going,” said Stine, who is using different techniques, squeezing paint out and making it up as he goes along in his airy studio.

Working in his Suquamish studio proved another delightful surprise for Stine. It was storage space until he decided to open up the front half and start to work. He discovered he loved the air, the high ceiling and the wooded view. It became like an oasis and a lab.

“The fun for me is the psychological thing…really just stream of consciousness,” he said.

Stine is a self-proclaimed “pure artist” now. His biggest challenge, he said, is not piling too much on each work.

“I learned not to go too slowly. If I do, I start to use my left brain and start bean-counting,” he said. “Once the picture does its job, I have to do another one.”

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Hoist a Stein

Richard Stine’s latest show, “Mapping the Cosmos,” takes over Gallery Fraga Aug. 5 to 27. The gallery will host an artist’s reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 5. Hours are noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. The gallery is at 166 Winslow Way E. For information call 842-1150 or visit www.galleryfraga.com.

“It is a joy to show an artist who so purely and honestly creative. While his work has changed over the years, Richard has not,” gallery owner Jeff Fraga says. “He still lives to see what happens if he tries this…or maybe looks at something this way.”

Stine and some of his work will be at the Bainbridge Island Arts Walk from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7 at Town Square.

His website, www.richardstine.com, features artwork, a clever little “Ditty” film and books and cards for sale.