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CAA book blurb

Thanks to a long list of inspiring, historical artists, Ron became a dedicated student of art history. His blend of realism and colorism through traditional classical painting techniques finds fulfillment in the diverse subject matter of the great American west particularly Native American Culture. His studio bookshelves are lined with books on artists covering a wide range of periods, styles, and techniques. A discussion of his own work will often turn toward the great masters that have gone before him

He is as knowledgeable about the traditions of Russian art realism as he is about turn of the century impressionism. He has studied those works as a way of training himself to be a representational artist. After studying at the Art Center College of Design in California in the 70’s, Ron was discouraged by the trend in other American academies toward avant-garde abstraction. He sought and found a true mentor in the late Russian master, Sergei Bongart, whose artistic insight has been a great influence on his painting.

Ron’s interest in the full spectrum of representational art has led him to develop skills in many media – watercolor, charcoal, oil – and the fine art techniques of printmaking. Embracing traditional disciplines of working directly from models and plein aire landscape painting, he also includes the tools of photography and computer technology to assist the creative process. Of course those devices are only aids to his work, which starts with his conceptual idea and the initial drawings and sketches.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Ron’s first introduction into a western lifestyle was through such classic television westerns as Bonanza and Rawhide, but he also had the opportunity to experience ranch life first hand on visits to his uncle’s ranches in Northern California and Idaho. He was invited to join the CAA in 1997 and now devotes himself fully to painting both the historic and contemporary West. He has set his standards at a very high level and says, “When I paint now, I can consciously consider producing work that is of my greatest effort, work that I am privileged to display in museum exhibitions and am deeply grateful for the honor.” It is an ambitious conviction, but one which has produced results that will, no doubt, meet that goal.