Rita Ford Jones

Art Brokerage: Rita Ford Jones American Artist: b. 1937. Rita Ford Jones was born in 1937 in an orange orchard, Buena Park, California. The Family moved to Imperial Valley where Rita was surrounded by raw desert and purple hazed mountains in the distance. A horse, cow, collie dog, cat and numerous chickens, turkeys, and wild ducks were part of the farm life that Rita enjoyed while growing up. Her high school art teacher, Mrs. Jernigan, had the most influence on Rita's thinking and knowledge in regards to artwork. Professor Jim Grubola at the University of Louisville recognized the influence of William Stanley Hayter in Rita's spontaneous style of quick drawing. Rita used the scribble technique to begin her abstract drawings and intaglio etchings. Mr. Hayter taught at the Chicago Art Institute about the same time Mrs. Jernigan was a student there.While in high school, the Sun Flower painting by Vincent Van Gogh sold for a million dollars. That made quite a stir in the art world in the 1950s. The free movement of strokes and bright colors in Van Gogh's paintings helped create a love for unusual color combinations. After Graduation from Indiana University Southeast where she won many awards with her Intaglio Etchings, Rita was accepted into a masters degree program at U of L. The University of Louisville offered a four-week Foreign Studies program at the University of Perugia in Italy during the summer of 1986. This program was responsible for her love of Italy, most especially Venice. The colors of the antique buildings there were reflected in the waters flowing like sidewalks between the buildings. Broken plaster chunks exposed the history of the different colors used in past restorations. These exposed pieces became abstractions in shapes and colors. Walking, sketching and doing watercolors there became a passion which has made Venice a theme that Rita returns to again and again. Eight trips to Italy included a stay in Venice every time.Studies in Italy and France were supplemented by travel to England, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Egypt and Israel. The U of L program also included four weeks in Paris, France in 1989. Drawing and painting all over Paris filled several of her sketch books as well as many small watercolor sketches. Museums and Galleries were also a major part of the studies there as well as in Italy. Workshops after graduation were taught by Daniel Greene, Judi Betts and John Michael Carter. Doing artwork in several different media and with many different artists has been her life-long passion. Rita's mother always drew things and her dad took her to museums in Los Angeles and San Diego as a young child. Paintings wanted by Art Brokerage.