Rich Hoffmann, “Painter of LIFE,” was born and raised in northern California.  Promoting through the ranks to become a Fire Captain, he has fought forest and structure fires, as well as supervised and instructed inmates at the Avenal State Prison to become fully trained fire fighters.  His career credentials include being a certified Fire Instructor, Fire Prevention Officer, Fire Investigator, and Hazardous Materials Specialist Instructor to list just a few in a dual Fire/Law Enforcement position with the State of California Department of Corrections.

Medically retired, Mr. Hoffmann is now a small business owner who obtained two patents on three separate devices and methods he invented that allows both fire victims to more effectively escape burning buildings and firefighters a much safer and more efficient method of fighting fires as well as the deployment of heavy, fully charged fire hoses with one quarter the effort in as little time.  These methods, video demonstrated on the internet with over 75,000 verifiable international hits and countless blogs, are currently incorporated into the instructional training material at Texas A & M University to further help teach the Fire Service these new technologies on a global scale.  In his time off, he also photographs weddings in which he has received many high marks, including recognition in the professional competition of the California Mid-State Fair.  He has received countless other acknowledgments as well in both public and private art exhibitions for capturing and “painting” spectacular images from the Great West including the Pacific coast lines of south central and northern California and the wine countries of Napa and Sonoma valleys and the foothills of the Sierra and coastal mountains throughout.

Rich relocated to Iowa to be close to his two youngest children, Morgan age 5 and Noah age 4.  He is very proud of his oldest son, Rick, age 24, who graduated second in his class of only five from a list of 250+ initial applicants of the Navy’s best to become one of a very select few Special Forces Rescue Swimmers ever.  Rick has been assigned at the tsunami support naval base in Atsugi, Japan for the past three years where he has been on the front lines of the dangerous helicopter rescue operations and humanitarian relief effort in the wake of their nuclear disaster in March 2011.  Rich’s oldest daughter, Jaclynn age 26, who presently resides in the Sonoma Valley working in a small boutique winery, is also an accomplished abstract and 'Japanese' cartoon pencil artist as well.

 

Artist Statement: 

 

Essentially every artist must learn and effectively apply the principles of proper composition to produce an appealing illustration; however, it was Ansel Adams who mastered light, demanding that it be perfectly “even.”  Knowing the severe limitations of the single eye camera lens to only properly expose one level of light intensity, he would wait months before returning to a desired vantage point, never wasting a frame of film, to be there at the exact moment when the conditions were of absolute perfection to capture the world renowned images we all know and love.

 

The difference I present incorporates a process of capturing multiple light exposures of the same image/scene in which today’s state of the art digital equipment and technology provides when the luxury of perfect timing for proper light exposure is not always available.  Even in light that is not consistent, I am able to properly expose each separate area of a given “subject” with the camera in full manual mode.  Often holding the camera steady only by hand, I compose and then properly expose the first image of the brighter sky, the second of the dimmer main subject area, and finally, if necessary, the third of the darker foreground.  I then take these images to my computer “lab” and hand cut the first two properly exposed areas from the first two images and layer them onto the third, creating a complete and “properly exposed” fourth image that I later render.  The final process, which I leave as a bit of a mystery, allows me to extract and enhance each color within the image much in the same manner that a painter would choose a selection from his pallet.  After I often feather the edges to ensure the end result begins to appear as a hand 'painted' illustration, I then select and extract specific subjects within the image as layers, make any final lighting adjustments to each, and finally pull them through a series of filters and custom settings on the computer, redrawing each pixel in their desired size and shape as a pencil, brush, chalk, or similar charcoal stroke.  Incorporating a few more important steps, the final version is then printed by Canvas On Demand Pro and readied for gallery presentation, shipped direct to anywhere on the globe with only a simple manifest content list to ensure the cost of such a nice gift will only be known by you.

 

It is my goal that you enjoy this work as much as I enjoy creating it!