Rita King
Artist

Born and raised in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Rita has always had a one-on-one relationship with nature and the subjects she paints. These subjects include, but are not limited to, dogs (best known for her Jack Russell terriers), cats, horses, foxes, landscapes, foxhunt scenes, country scenes, flowers and portraits.

Rita studied art and design at Northern Virginia Community College. From there she attended numerous workshops and classes. This, in turn, lead her to study directly under Jean Bowman, the internationally known equine artist.

There have been three interviews with Rita on cable television and three times she was picked as their “Artist of the Month”. She also provided illustrations for two books, FOXHUNTING IN NORTH AMERICA by Alexander Mackey-Smith and ABOVE AND BELOW GROUND by Marilyn Massey, a cookbook, ANIMAL CRACKERS, and several of THE JACK RUSSELL TERRIER CALENDARS.

Rita has participated in numerous art shows and exhibitions and her paintings have hung in a number of galleries along the East Coast from Virginia to New York. They can also be found in private collections across the United States, in England and Canada and as far away as Argentina, among which are the collections of Alexander Mackay-Smith, Marilyn Massey, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Billy Thompson of antique car restoration fame and also the brother of Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia. Some of her many accomplishments are, but not limited to: Artist in Residence at a private school in Virginia, two 1st Place awards at the Shenandoah Valley Artist’s Association art show, a one-man show in Berryville, Virginia, commissioned to design and hand paint trophies for the Jack Russell Terrier Show two years in a row, commissioned to design THE WORLD COMES TO WHITE POST limited edition poster. Rita was also commissioned to paint four paintings for the Boy Scouts of America and donated all the proceeds from the sale of the prints to the Boy Scouts. She has also had prints published on two of her other works. In her “spare” time, she has even given private art lessons to worthy students.