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him to pursue it as a career.
“I made a pact with her that I would reach my
pinnacle,” he says.
As Ford matured as an artist, and naturally
looked at others’ art, he found a likeminded
viewpoint in the work of John Ruskin (1819-
1900), a leading English art critic who argued
that the principal role of the artist is “truth to
nature.” Like many painters inclined toward the
Ruskin view, Ford renders his subject with such
astute attention that at first glance his paintings
could be perceived as a photograph. He believes
in depicting the objects of nature as precisely
as possible, maintaining their integrity, yet his
approach employs textural brushwork and the use
of optical color that is akin to Impressionism.
Ford continues his daily study and rendering
of his natural subjects while Scott manages his
career. The two have seen this working relation-ship
bring Ford’s artwork much exposure and
acclaim. Scott cites numerous experiences, such
as a commission by Florida Senator Bill Nelson’s
wife, Grace, to paint the Laura Bush Floribunda
rose as a departing gift for her term as First
Lady. Another, born through work with interior
designer Mandy Culpepper, is the acquisition of
a large collection of Ford’s work by media mogul
Ted Turner for his Albany, Georgia home. In
fact, when the Riley brothers recently delivered
new pieces, they say Turner remarked that his
two favorite artists are Albert Bierstadt, a cel-ebrated
19th century German-American painter
associated with the Hudson River School and
known for his lavish landscapes of the American
West, and Ford Riley. This makes Ford his favor-ite
living artist.
Scott Riley owns a second home on Airlie
Road and spends increasing time there, while
Ford can be found in his picturesque studio in
the Mandarin neighborhood near the St. Johns
River, his childhood home. Amid wooded acres
full of the foliage and birds that eventually find
themselves in his pieces, Ford’s study is ongoing.
This specific aesthetic experience is captured so
directly on his canvasses, that comparisons to
other Southeastern artists and writers easily crys-talize.
Atlanta-born author Pat Conroy, known
for his works such as “The Prince of Tides,” is
one that Scott links with Ford’s paintings.
“When I read Conroy, I see Ford’s paintings,”
Scott says. “Conroy writes the South and Ford
paints it.”
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