After teaching mathematics for 30 years, I retired from Messiah College- Grantham, Pennsylvania as a mathematics professor in 1998. As a segue into retirement, I audited a variety of art courses at Messiah College. I also have taken classes through the Art Center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, The Art League of Alexandria, VA and the Art Association of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I was part of a local group of plein air artists for many years. This group of artists would go out into the field, painting and critiquing each others work on a regular basis.
Before I moved to Virginia I was a member of the Carlisle Art and Learning Center, The Perry County Council of the Arts and The Art Association of Harrisburg. I have displayed and sold my work at various galleries and venues in Northern Virginia and South Central Pennsylvania. I have been the featured artist at The 2nd Floor Gallery in Mechanicsburg, PA, Art and Soul Gallery- Camp Hill, PA, Vienna Art Society in Virginia and also at the Perry County Council of the Arts Gallery in Newport, PA. I am a former officer of the Vienna Arts Society. I became a copyist at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. in July 2013.
Although I have been painting for over fifty years, for the past sixteen years I have been able to focus on an avocation that I have loved virtually all of my life. I continue to enjoy the experience of going out into the field, and being inspired and challenged to capture some of the beautiful scenery. Although I have done some encaustic painting and portraits, most of my paintings are landscape oil paintings.
Richard H. Neff grew up in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania and currently lives in Fairfax, VA.