About the Artist
Contemporary Impressionist

Gay Summer Rick is a contemporary impressionist painter whose landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes are created by layering oil paint on canvas using palette knives rather than brushes to apply paint to canvas. She ‘builds’ her works applying new colors as multiple layers begin to dry. Unexpected vibration in light, color and texture are revealed within her images.

She is inspired by the beauty in earth, air and water expressed in the images of JMW Turner, the rich textural qualities in the works of Master Impressionists, and warm, lustrous colors found in the paintings of early California Plein Air painters.

Growing up in New York surrounded by artists, Gay Summer Rick began her arts education at an early age. She formally studied art and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the prestigious New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where she painted and sculpted images on clay forms and vessels. After receiving a Masters degree in Marketing and International Business, she continued her art training in California, studying at Brentwood Art Center, Kline Academy of Fine Arts, and in painting workshops with several local artists and California Art Club painters.

It was in Los Angeles that she ‘found her voice’ as a contemporary impressionist palette knife painter. While she still returns to visit New York, Gay now calls Southern California her home.

Gay shows her work at Malibu Gallery in California, and in national and regional juried exhibitions, where she has received awards and honors. Her paintings can also be found in the Art Rental and Sales Gallery at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is an Associate Artist with the notable California Art Club and Oil Painters of America, and an artist member of the Malibu Art Association. Gay’s paintings are in many private collections across the country.