Ronald L. Ruble "Of Mountains and Elephants" Etching

 Welcome 

I am pleased that you are taking the time to visit my website. On the following pages I will give you a brief view of my life in art, which covers more than 60 years, with a few  thoughts regarding my journey and some work that I made along the way. Enjoy! Thank you.

Pctured above is the image, "Of Mountains and Elephants". I post it here as my lead in image as it was the print that provided me with my first purchase award in a National Juried Exhibition back in the 70's. It was a great ego boost for me at the time. The print went on to receive several more purchase awards as it was added to University and Museum collections.  

I was fortunate to receive many such awards for my work over the years, but you never forget that first one and the feeling it gave me. I started to believe that maybe I really was an artist, or at least if I worked hard I could be, while all the while holding a full time job with the Wisconsin Bell Telephone Company. After all, not only myself but my family and dog had to eat.

Enjoy your trip through my website. The site is a work in progress, so come back once in awhile to see how I am doing; adding, subtracting and rearranging the postings. It is not in sequence as it happened, but I think that it will make sense.

Thoughts on my work

My art is narrative, combining realistic imagery of a Symbolist nature with a touch of the Surreal. My drawings are developed for the most part from photographs cultivated from family albums, news media, the internet or wherever I can find them. Any image that grabs my attention is adapted for my work. I seem to be drawn to those of a classical nature, combining several of them together, like a collage. I begin with a vague idea and then work the images in that direction. In most cases the finished product is not what I started out to do. While worrking, I let myself meander, following each new thought that I have. lt is a work in progress, never following a set script.

Lately I have been experimenting with mixed media works, combining drawings, photographs, manipulated images and also adding some collage elements. Digital is my new habit and I find that today it suits my purpose. I do not limit myself with rules. Everything out there is fair game. My goal is to get to the heart of the matter, to the final image, using any method or process that I am aware of. I am not in any way a purist.

My advice to offer is this; don't hesitate to use whatever means are available to fulfill your vision. No one owns the concept of art, or artistic processes. Take what you want, from wherever you find it, and build on it.

 Ron Ruble "Two:2" Hand colored lithograph with collage elements

The above print won a purchase prize in a recent Society of American Graphic Artists Exhibition in New York. You can see how things have changed over the years when you compare it to "Of Mountains and Elephants". However, on closer inspection, you will see that my imagery follows a thematic path. There is, in most cases, an archeological type of landscape in the background that keeps my work centered. What I am saying by is this, that we as a species are dreamers, continually searching, reaching for that golden ring until we finally achieve what we are seeking. Once accomplished, we never seem to be satisfied and we move on to another goal, feeding our repetative curiosity. I believe that this trait is our destiny, our reason for being. As artists we do that, and we do it well.

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