Ron Ford laughs when it's suggested his life resembles that of former US president George W. Bush. Like Bush, for example, Ford worked for the government: his final position before retiring in 2012 was in the Ottawa office of the Ministry of Finance for the Ontario government. The real similarity, however, is their retirement pursuit: both have discovered the joy of spending hours in front of a canvas painting portraits. While Bush has focused his artistic attention on world leaders, Ford has largely chosen one of his passions for his subjects: curlers.
His inspiration came during last year's Sochi Olympics. He wanted to capture the intensity of the two gold-medal-winning Canadian skips, Jennifer Jones and Brad Jacobs, driving from the hack. It was a subject close to his heart: he loves and participates in the sport. One of his curling portraits - he has painted a number of curlers, using photographs from the web - is now hanging at his local rink, the Cumberland Curling Club. He has also sold a few of them, including two to the parents of gold medallist Dawn McEwen (one of her and the other of her husband, Mike, who is also a curler).
It's quite an achievement for someone who hadn't even picked up a paintbrush until his retirement three years ago. With a demanding job and raising a family of four children, there was never the time nor the energy for outside hobbies. But that changed when he retired."Suddenly [I had] a lot more free time on [my] hands" says the affable 62-year-old."I knew I wanted to be busy and active when I stopped working"
After a friend suggested he take a painting class at the Ottawa School of Art, Ford discovered he was a natural; perhaps this was due to artistic genes in the family - his grandfather was a painter. He now spends several hours a day painting. He started with landscapes, but gravitated toward portraiture, which he finds more fulfilling."The real joy for me is seeing a portrait come to life" Ford says. He singles out a painting he did of his father from a Second World War photograph as one of his favourites."As his likeness started coming through the canvas, I became very emotional. It was him, there in front of me"
Ford sees a few parallels between his former day job as an auditor and his painting."You have to take a detailed, patient and methodical approach to the work" he says. He brings that same approach to the painting, but with a twist."Being artistic is about creating and developing new ideas, to bring something new to the world. I get real joy from that" .
To return to the main index page click on the index link below.