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Western painter Richard D. Thomas was raised in a small town in the San Joaquin Valley of California.  A top 100 finalist in the 1987 nationwide Arts for the Parks Competition, Thomas has won numerous awards for his work and has participated in various group and one-man shows around the country, including the Miniatures Show at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, and the Masters of the American West show at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California.  His works can be found in private, corporate and public collections throughout the country.

Now a professional artist for more than 25 years, Thomas is nationally recognized for his images of contemporary working cowboys, horses, Native American warriors and Western landscapes.  An outdoor painter, he immerses himself completely in his subject matter, becoming a part of what he conveys on the canvas.  After 23 years of living in Colorado, the artist now lives in Montana.  He continues to find inspiration in the scenic landscape of the West.  He researches his subjects thoroughly, spending a lot of this time observing and interacting with locals.  “I pretty much paint only that which I can experience myself,” Thomas stated in the June 2002 issue of Southwest Art.