STEPHEN SHORTRIDGE
Born in Iowa, 1951, and raised in Southern California Stephen excelled in art throughout his schooling but had mainly studied commercial art. He took his first painting class while attending Idaho State University on a Water Polo Scholarship (Stephen was an All-American).
Stephen Charles Shortridge, the artist may be more familiar to you as an actor. During the seventies and eighties, Shortridge built an enviable career appearing in such well-known television series as “Welcome Back Kotter” and “The Love Boat”. He co-starred with Debbie Reynolds on the ABC show “Aloha Paradise”. He spent the year of 1987 playing the role of David Reed as part of the original cast on the CBS daytime soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful”. Stephen also worked regularly as a model and appeared in over fifty TV commercials.
Stephen enjoyed acting but found painting much more creatively satisfying and explains, “In acting a large part of the creative process had taken place by the time I was involved. In contrast, painting gives me complete control from start to finish, which is good and bad. Good when the work is good...bad, when there is no one else to blame for bad but me.”
He met his wife Cathy on the beach after surfing in Newport Beach, California. They married in 1976 and shared an adventurous life, experiencing career changes from modeling and acting, to gift stores and art publishing. They’ve made homes in Manhattan, Connecticut, and Southern California. For the last 13 years they’ve lived in the mountainous region of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. They have three grown children and two grandsons.
“I thank God for everything, the least of which is to be creative, and to paraphrase a famous line from “Chariots of Fire”, ‘...when I paint I feel His pleasure’...this I certainly do!”
shortridgefineart.com