Rich Gallego has been painting the landscape since 1996. After attending ArtCenter College of Design he studied with such luminaries as Karl Dempwolf, George Strickland, and Jean LeGassick. His longtime love of Nature’s wild places has taken him far afield from Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly to the beaches of Hawaii. From the rivers, gorges, and adobes of Northern New Mexico to the glaciers of Alaska and so many places in between, all in search of the scenes he loves to paint. Referring to his obsession with painting as “my wonderful affliction”, he is constantly searching for new ways to reveal the natural world to others through paint. Rich teaches weekly plein air workshops in Southern California, has taught workshops for Cloudcroft Art Workshops in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and taught weeklong workshops for The Taos Art School in Taos, New Mexico each Summer/Fall from 2009 to 2016.

He teaches an annual plein air workshop in the Eastern Sierra each Fall and various other workshops for groups such as The Desert Arts League in Ridgecrest, CA and The Central Coast Artist Association in Pacific Grove, CA. Rich has served as Judge for All Media Shows for both The Simi Valley Art Association and the Thousand Oaks Art Association.

Additionally, Rich is an Artist Mentor for Open Studio Online where he provides critiques, demonstration videos, and artistic guidance for other artists. He has served on the faculty at the Plein Air Convention and Expo in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2018 and 2022. And was an onstage Demonstration Artist at the 2023 Plein Air Convention and Expo in Denver, CO.

He has been a guest several times on Eric Rhoads' "Art School Live" online broadcast and "Plein Air Podcast with Eric Rhoads". He is a member of the Laguna Plein Air Painters’ Association and was juried into the organization’s “Best of Plein Air” show in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Rich has been featured in several articles on Plein Air Magazine’s online publication, “Outdoor Painter” and appeared as a featured artist in “American Art Collector” magazine. He has been represented by galleries in Laguna Beach, CA, Monrovia, CA, and Cheyenne, WY, Claremont, CA and CN Interiors of San Marino, CA. Most recently, Rich completed filming of two instructional videos with Streamline Publishing in Austin, TX. They are scheduled to be released later this year (2023).