Ron Burns

Artist Biography

Ron Burns is an Ohio native whose professional life started in Los Angeles where he and Buff founded the graphic design company, Ron Burns Design. There his work won over high-profile clients including Dick Clark Productions, Xerox, and Blue Cross. But this brand of success demanded a nonstop, 25-hour-a-day approach to living and working that grew less and less fulfilling. Ron occasionally used painting as a pastime to deal with the intense pressures of commercial work. The 1987 Whittier earthquake rattled more than their design studio off its foundation, it forced Ron and Buff to completely reprioritize their lives. Looking to escape the soulless-ness of business life in L.A., they moved to Sedona, Arizona. In this quieter, more spiritual setting Ron began to take painting seriously. He explored various styles and subject matter until finally he started painting vibrant portraits of their own dogs. The color choices Ron is famous for today were present from the start in his art, prints and posters.

"There's nothing subtle or muted about a pet's love, especially a dog's. It's full-strength, heart-felt and wild-as-the-wind. So the green-apple colors, the fire-truck reds, the swimming-pool blues really chose themselves. Brilliant, saturated colors are the only ways I can begin to capture what each of us experiences with the dogs and cats that nurture us." -Ron Burns on the subject matter of his art, prints and posters

Ron Burns begins each portrait with the eyes because they hold nothing back, from love to fear, heartbreak to admiration. After Ron's initial series of paintings of his own dogs, he started visiting animal shelters and taking photos of other dogs and cats to use as models. After selling portraits of these images, he returned a percentage of proceeds back to support the shelters. This approach later lead to being named artist-in-residence with The Humane Society of the United States. Ron is presently overseeing a second printing of his book and is working on a number of exciting new projects in art, prints, posters and more.

Ron Burns Art, Prints and Posters Collection