Richard Christopher Davis was born October 19, 1950 in Amite, Louisiana. His innate appreciation for the beauty of the natural land-scape is probably a by-product of fulfilling the daily tasks of a farm boy on his parents' small dairy farm located on the upper Tickfaw River.
Chris gives much credit to his Grandpa Ivy, a farmer and avid fisherman, for many of his fondest childhood memories - picking cotton with the farmhands; following in his Paw Paw's bare footprints in the cool dirt behind the plow-mule; searching the field for that first vine-ripe watermelon; or riding in the boat to check the hooks at daybreak - all images of an idyllic, simpler time which is the stuff good, uplifting paintings are made of.
Chris attended a small junior college for two years and opened a successful sign business, beginning his aquaintance with paint and imagery at age 21.
Becoming disenchanted with the commercial world after a failed marriage, he embarked on a "mission" to educate himself. Having read a book on the life of Van Gogh, and after a visit to the National Gallery, Chris decided to become an artist. Being totally self-taught, Chris considers himself to be a "polished country primitive" whose work appeals to an underlying spirituality of the viewer. "They feel what I feel. When I paint an image - we share."
Chris lives with his wife Priscilla, in a home / studio they built themselves on the same ground he trod as a child, using his allotted time to sharpen his skill as a perceiving being and artist.
