Biography

Ronnie Ford was born in Dunoon, Scotland.  He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1970 to 1974, graduating with BA (hons).  He gained his Art Teaching Certificate from Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow and taught art for 28 years in Scotland, England, Germany and latterly in Hong Kong.   He held successful exhibitions of his work in each of those countries.   In 2003 he returned to his home town and became a full-time artist, establishing his working studio in Sandbank on the shores of the Holy Loch in Argyll.  While working mainly from his Scottish studio, he sends his work  for exhibition in prestigious galleries worldwide.

Ronnie Ford’s Paintings

Ronnie Ford’s signature style of sculptural painting, inspired by his travels and influenced by his studies of eastern and western Art, invites the viewer on a journey through the landscape.  He has had several sell-out exhibitions and has sold his work to clients (public, private and corporate) world wide.

“I study the landscape, then distance myself from it physically and with time, in order to filter out unnecessary detail and capture the spirit of what I have seen on my canvases. As a result my paintings are often not representations of any particular place, but more of the impression that place has left upon me.”

Ford’s work features a highly textured surface and use of contrasting colours which captures the landscape in a personal and evocative way, pulling at the heart strings and stimulating the brain.  He focuses on capturing the spirit of the landscape which was the goal of the Chinese masters who believed that “anyone can copy a person or a landscape but only true masters catch its spirit!” His 2003 Hong Kong exhibition was the central feature of the number one Canto Pop star Sammie Cheng’s MTV video.  In a more recent Hong Kong show a collector increased her Ford paintings to a total of 30!  

Ronnie has used his success to benefit the Esther Benjamin Trust (Giving Children back their Childhood) which is a charity which has released children (not guilty of any crimes) from jails in Nepal, rescues children from bonded labour in Indian circuses and supplies care and education for street children, the under-privileged and socially shunned untouchables.   Esther was a personal friend of Ronnie’s and her husband, Philip Holmes, set up the charity in her memory.

Ronnie has also helped other charities including the Society for Aids Care in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Charity Auction and he regularly donates paintings to help raise funds for POWER4Limbs which provides replacement limbs for children and adults who have been injured by landmines.  He has also helped Yorkhill Children’s Hospital, The MS Society, Princes Trust, Save the Children, Mary’s Meals, Children’s Liver Foundation, Booby Birds (breast cancer), Muir Maxwell Trust and many more with donations to their auctions.