Ronnie Ford Facebook Live Painting Session

By Sarah

Scottish artist Ronnie Ford took to Ode To Art’s Facebook Page to hold a live painting session

During the mandatory circuit breaker that Singapore enforced from April 6th to June 1st, 2020, Singaporeans experienced a significant amount of change in daily routines as social and physical interaction became strictly limited to immediate family members, and for some people, this left them feeling increasingly lonely and isolated. As an art gallery, we have always believed deeply in the ability of art to speak to individuals of all backgrounds, and its power to unite people especially in trying times. Thus, when exploring how we could play a role in helping to alleviate a sense of stress or isolation, we realized that the best way to do this was to bring a community together through a shared love of art, and this birthed the idea of the live painting session with Scottish artist Ronnie Ford that happened on April 23rd, 2020.

Lavender Dawn90 x 180cm, Mixed Medium on Canvas

Ronnie Ford is renowned for his landscape paintings that feature mesmerizing colours and fascinating perspectives, which capture the scene in a highly evocative manner. Filming live from his studio in Scotland, the artist held a 90-minute painting session that aimed to guide viewers through a recreation of one of his distinctive works, and to offer insight into the notion of perspective in painting. During this session, viewers from all types of artistic backgrounds and a myriad of countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia came together over a shared love and interest of art.

Ronnie Ford sharing about the techniques used in Asian art to create perspective
Ronnie began by sharing about the one-point perspective used in the history of Western art, as well as the technique of overlapping objects commonly observed in traditional Asian paintings, that have both been used by artists over centuries to create a sense of depth in art. Moving on to the painting session, viewers learned about the artist’s technique of sectioning the canvas into four distinct parts, that would eventually come together through a chosen vanishing point to create the entire landscape work. Ronnie also shared his technique of creating foliage and houses, that work with the other elements of the painting to bring the landscape to life.

Ronnie Ford demonstrating his technique for creating foliage in his artworks
While online painting sessions may have limitations such as the inability to see colour nuances clearly or irregularities in proportion, they also offer art enthusiasts a unique and exciting opportunity especially during this period. Such live sessions enable viewers from all around the world to come together in one virtual space and give them the opportunity to learn from a maestro, which they may not normally have if living across the world from them. With a recorded live session, the pressure that may be present in a normal group painting session is largely removed, as viewers can work from the comforts of their home in their own favored spaces, and are able to work at their own pace, with the ability to return to specific parts of the session and leisurely finish the work, making the process even more enjoyable.

Participants were guided through a recreation of a landscape painting by the artist himself
While irregularities may occur in online painting sessions due to a lack of total clarity and proximity of the reference work, it is these irregularities that make your piece of artwork unique and distinct from those created by other participants, and it can be utterly fascinating to see how other people’s interpretations of the reference may differ from yours. Numerous participants in the session shared their creations on our Facebook page, and it was fascinating to observe the spin that people put on their paintings to make them distinctly their own.

Participant Jiawen Low’s interpretation of Ronnie’s Painting
Although the circuit breaker may be over and we may be slowly transitioning into the next phase, this period has shown how wonderful virtual art sessions are in bringing together people with common interests from all sorts of cultural backgrounds and fostering a sense of joy and community through a shared activity. We are thoroughly excited to see how the art world will continue to adapt and innovate in the coming months and years, and cannot wait to bring more of our art events and activities to you.

Les Couleurs de Printemps120 x 150cm, Mixed Medium on Canvas

Fields of Gold
120 x 150cm, Mixed Medium on Canvas
If you missed our live painting session with Ronnie Ford, head to our Facebook page and YouTube channel where a full recording of the session is available for you to enjoy. Do follow us on our Facebook and Instagram pages to stay updated on our future art initiatives!