In his Red Hook studio, artist Richard Wambach was studying a digital photograph: a weathered red barn with a sagging roof, a precariously leaning silo, and an old truck. The scene was of a family farm in Germantown whose owner wanted the tableau immortalized through art. “The barn’s falling down — can you draw it?” Wambach recalled being asked. His work adorned the walls of his studio. Other prints were stacked neatly in wooden crates. Dozens of black pens were close at hand. Wambach leaned into his computer screen, scrutinizing the details of the photo, down to the peeled red paint of the boards and the corrugation of the metal roof.
Wambach draws Hudson Valley architecture, instantly recognizable to those who live here. Whether they’re well-known landmarks, like the Hudson River’s eight lighthouses (including the Statue of Liberty), or staples of the valley’s landscape — red barns, fire towers, historic churches — Wambach draws his inspiration from a place that he has called home for all his life. “If you live here, you see these things every day, but once you observe them, they’re really beautiful,” he said.
Wambach’s style is pure and uncluttered. He specializes in black line drawing, with either pen or charcoal, complemented by flared felt-tip pens. His study of the Stissing Mountain Fire Tower uses a dramatic perspective, as if the viewer is craning their neck to look up at it. It painstakingly captures the dovetailing shapes segmented by the spiderweb-like metal frame. Wambach has also rendered many other historic buildings in the area, including the Graham-Brush Log House, Stissing House, Milan Town Hall, and countless churches.
Sometimes his work focuses on nature, like a heron perched by a pond with a flock of turtles sunning themselves on a rock, a scene that Wambach spotted with his keen artist’s eye. “I jumped off my bike, took a picture, and thought: I’ve got to draw that,” he said. Wambach will also use historic photography as his source, like a photo of the Elizaville train station, which ceased operation in 1938 and is now a private home. “The owner saw my drawing and said, ‘That’s my house,’” Wambach recalled. “I draw things that are no longer there — that makes them feel alive again.”
Wambach grew up in Columbia County, in the hills of Austerlitz. After graduating at the top of his class at Dutchess Community College studying commercial art, he served in Vietnam, flying and maintaining Huey helicopters as part of the 101st Airmobile Division. Wambach managed to keep his art chops up even as a soldier, painting logos and slogans onto the hood of his Huey. When he returned from his tour, he designed posters for theatrical events for troops stationed in Vietnam.
A turning point in his artistic career happened in 1972, far from his Hudson Valley roots. On one of his many trips to the Outer Banks, a stretch of small barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, Wambach began sketching fishing boats, creaking docks, and shipwrecks in charcoal pencil. “The scenes are so tranquil and unbelievable,” said Wambach. “I sat all day drawing, until my wife would come looking for me for dinner.” It was during that trip that Wambach realized he wanted to start pursuing drawing more seriously.
He brought that drive back to the Hudson Valley, seeing the beauty in everyday scenes where architecture exists in balance with nature. “These [drawings] represent a phoenix in my career that allowed me to expand my creative urge,” said Wambach, as he flipped through his Outer Banks series.
Running simultaneously alongside Wambach’s art career is his marketing agency, Wambach Communications, which he founded in 1972. At one point, he had 20 employees working for him, with offices in Rhinebeck and Manhattan, creating print and eventually digital media, from newspaper advertisements to brochures to press releases. His art career and professional life sometimes complement each other, as Wambach hand draws many of the ads himself. But the peace he feels while working on his own projects is unmatched.
Wambach sells his art at fairs, including recently at the Pine Plains Christmas Market. He makes prints of his original work, from small $10 copies to large-scale framed versions to scenes printed on pillows.
With the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence coming up in 2026, Wambach, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, is planning artwork for the occasion. “I want to do a montage series of local battle scenes or colonial generals,” he said. With a wealth of Hudson Valley historic architecture to draw from, as well as commissions from individuals wanting their home, farm, or business rendered in his style, Wambach has had a busy year, and expects another busy one to come. “I have a commission from Ray Tousey who owns [Tousey] Winery in Germantown. So that’s next up,” said Wambach.
Wambach’s art stands alone as great examples of plein air and photo-reference drawing. But it also embodies a love for all things local. He turned again to his current project, the dilapidated old barn and well-worn silo. It reminded him of a 125-acre dairy farm that his grandparents had. “When I draw something like this,” he said, “I keep thinking: This is home.”