Meet Robert Lucy

We were lucky to catch up with Robert Lucy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Robert, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

The life of the artist is quite different from the life of a Colonel in the US Marine Corps, but much of what has allowed me to have my career as an artist is thanks to the discipline that I learned from my father. My Father went to military boarding school when he was 13, then to the US Naval Academy and then served in The USMC for 25+ years.
The path that I chose to be a fine artist was about as far in the opposite direction as it could be, but the discipline that was ingrained in me from my father has allowed me to have a daily studio practice for over 35 years.
To be an artist requires more than talent or creativity or imagination, it takes the ability to show up and make your work.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have had the great privilege to express myself creatively through painting and drawing for my entire adult life. It took years of developing my craft to get to the point where my craft was able to match my vision. The painter Roy Lichtenstein was quoted as saying that an artist must paint 7 hours a day for 7 days a week for 7 years before they can call themselves a painter. While I can’t claim that degree of discipline, I did work very hard to achieve the level of craft that I have achieved.
About 15 years ago I combine my love of animals with my love of painting and started accepting commissions for animal portraits. Since then I have painted over 150 portraits. I try to capture each animal’s soul in my portraits, and add fresh, graphic backgrounds to give them a contemporary edge.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The thing that helped me to begin my journey was the ability to acknowledge my passion for art making and then to pursue that passion despite the resistance that I felt from the culture that I lived in. I had to hear what my heart wanted and then take action to pursue it. I left my traditional path in college and transferred to Art School. After graduating it took a great deal of discipline as mentioned earlier as well as persistence to grow my skills. Growing those skills gave me self confidence.
More than anything, in my artistic career and in my life in general, the most important skill that I know is the ability to listen to my heart and my intuition and to then take actions based on that knowing. This listening has allowed me to grow and have the life that I have had, full of passion and love and connection.

How would you describe your ideal client?

I have had over 150 clients for my pet portrait commissions. My clients have seen examples of my work and want me to make a portrait for them. I know that it must feel a little risky to buy something that doesn’t exist yet, so one useful characteristic is trust. My clients need to trust that I can make a portrait that they will love of their pet based on portraits that they have seen of mine of other animals. They need to be open and collaborative as we choose the best possible photo for me to use as a source. And finally they need to be a little patient while waiting to make them a special work of art made especially for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robertlucy.com
• Instagram: robert_lucy_commissions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554087667771

Image Credits

All paintings and photos of the paintings by Robert Lucy