"Anything that I can do to keep alive the awareness that there are other creatures besides us on earth, through my art, helps me to fulfill part of my own obligation for their preservation."

Richard Timm Wins 2003 Florida Turkey stamp

About Richard Timm

Turning his back on the security of a successful career in commercial art, Richard Timm in 1971 decided to devote his considerable talent to his former avocation of wildlife art. Apparently, the decision was a wise one; within a very few years of the beginning of his career, his prints and single works are sought after both by collectors and casual admirers both for aesthetic pleasure and investment value.

  While his now widely acclaimed paintings are completed in the studio of his Trenton, Michigan home, Timm travels his home state and beyond doing his research; sketching and studying his mammal and bird subjects in their natural habitats, acquainting himself with their habits and even the psychology and feed preferences. As a onetime avid hunter himself, Timm spent countless hours in the fields and forests, marshes and swamps and in duck blinds beside the waters of Michigan, Canada and as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Now, his collection of fine long guns is left at home as Timm arms himself with the sketchpad and with the same enthusiasm, seeks out subjects for the easel rather than the table. Returning some of what he has taken from the wild, both as hunter and artist, Timm “gives back” in contributions of art for re sale to sportsmen’s and environmental groups. An active member of Ducks Unlimited, he regularly donates his art to support the campaign of that organization for the conservation and propagation of America’s waterfowl. Recently Timm was commissioned by GMC Truck and Bus Group to do a painting for the Ducks Unlimited wildlife organization. This painting will be a limited addition collector’s print. Five thousand of these duck prints will be produced, signed, and numbered. GMC Truck will donate these collector prints to Ducks Unlimited on the occasion of their 50th Anniversary. The collector prints will be used by Ducks Unlimited to raise funds for the preservation of the wetlands, which present the future generations of people may enjoy. The love of the outdoors and its creatures was first instilled in Richard Timm by his uncle, Arthur Lambka, with trips to Michigan’s nature rich Upper Peninsula which remains largely unspoiled by incursions of man.

 Formal art training for Timm, a native of Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park (as is his wife, Frances), began at the Meinzinger Art School, Detroit, and proceeded to the Art Center in Los Angeles. Painting and carving of wildlife was a hobby throughout a 20 –year commercial career, principally in the auto industry, but for a time in the aircraft industry following Timm’s study in Southern California. Timm’s accomplishments also include winning the 1978 Michigan Duck Stamp; 1982, Nevada Duck Stamp and the 1989 Alaska Duck Stamp. He has been a finalist in the Federal and many state Duck Stamp contests. In 1990 - 1998 he has been 2nd in the  Florida Duck Stamp Competition.

 The Mammals of North America, a large and complete collection of quadrupeds, which range in size from chipmunks to the Kodiak bear, is Timm’s best-known work to date. Timm has an extensive waterfowl collection which include: the Waterfowl of North America and a six work series of the majestic Geese of North America. Fittingly, the first of the latter series depicts the Canada Goose, most regal of that species.

 While Timm certainly is a master of oils, and frequently employs watercolor, his favorite medium currently is acrylics. As an artist, Timm strives to accomplish three things in all his paintings. “I try to paint authenticity, realism, and a natural habitat,” he says. As a result, Timm’s paintings reflect natural real-life scenes which are highly detailed. And there is usually that special added touch of a chipmunk or butterfly that seems to draw the attention of the subject, as in his painting of the “Labrador Family,” a technique that Timm employs to help describe the habitat. His paintings are exhibited and sold in prominent art galleries throughout the United States.

Several paintings may be seen and purchased at the Dixie Crossroads Restaurant in Titusville FL.

 

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