Rick Papineau has had a fascinating career in art and design since his childhood living in a small town in upstate New York. His father was a self-taught artist while working as a miner to support his family. Rick developed a skill for hand lettering signs and painting murals on trucks and billboards after graduating from high school. This led to a position with a sign shop while he pursued his degree in Fine Arts at SUNY Oswego.
Rick’s travels brought him to Sarasota where he started a small business called Manasota Art Sign. Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in nearby Venice hired him to hand letter their circus trailers. This association would be the start of a 40-year career with Ringling and then Feld Entertainment, a major event and entertainment company.
Starting as a scenic painter in the prop shop for Ringling, Rick earned successive promotions as Art Department Lead, Production Manager, Director, and finally, Vice President of Scenic for Feld. Rick managed a team of 25-30 individuals that developed scenic backdrops, props, floats, and innovative special effects for events worldwide. His team included carpenters, welders, sculptors, painters, electricians, and more.
Events with Feld Entertainment included the Ringling Circus, Disney On Ice, Disney Live Shows, Gold Show Circus, and Feld Motorsports. Rick also helped to design many of the one ring circus shows himself and was instrumental in the logistics of moving equipment efficiently for many shows and events on tour in the U.S. and around the world.
Today, Rick enjoys creating meaningful and original oil portraits of everyday golfers and other adults enjoying various action sports. He also consults with clients that value his expertise related to all facets of production design. Rick and his wife, Lois, reside in Sarasota.
Rick’s portraits are realistic and capture the essence of a person and their passion for golf or other activities. His portraits are an ideal gift for almost any enthusiast and Rick can create the portrait discreetly by working with photos or videos if available. In addition to painting the original, he also has access to a local fine art printer for high quality giclee prints.
See unique circus art by Rick at RickPapineau.com and more portrait art at GolfPainter.com. Follow him on Instagram @rik_papineauart.