No other Australian painter presents the harsh Australian bush with such softness & subtlety. The serenity of his art could hardly be further removed from the turbulence of his early life. The hand of the former crocodile hunter is not anywhere evident in the calm, gentle landscapes that have made Ramon Ward-Thompson one of Australia's most sought-after artists.

Years from now, whether it be 5, 20 or 100 years, Ramon Ward-Thompson is destined to be an artist held in greater and greater esteem. Ramon-Ward Thompson was born at Masterton in New Zealand. His parents separated when he was 3 years old. He was a difficult child and used to run away from school and home until finally his mother sent him to live with his maternal grandfather, Wilfred Rigg, where she thought he would have better discipline.

His grandfather had a very strict food regime where the family were only allowed to eat certain quantities and types of food. Ramon became thin and was always hungry so he took to stealing money from telephone boxes to buy food. When he was 13 his grandfather sent him to Scotts Boys School in Wellington. The best part about college was the abundance of food, although the other boys didn't agree! The college recognised his talent for art and encouraged him to paint, even arranging weekend art classes for him.

But Ramon craved for independence and continued to run away, only to be brought back to college again and again. After finishing school he left college and spent 2 years wandering New Zealand working in many jobs, 21 in fact, from wringing chickens necks, posthole digging, making Easter eggs and working at Woolworths. It was a hard and lonely life, but a life that he chose to live.

At 19 he bought a one way ticket to Sydney. His first job was digging sewerage trenches on Sydney's North Shore. His next job as a Rigger at Warragamba dam paid well and earned him enough in 5 months to travel to England where his mother was now living. She was a music teacher and noted pianist and his sister a professional violinist. In London he worked again in many jobs including a few months parking cars under Piccadilly Circus.

Again he took up painting and spent 12 months attending Morley College, a London Art School. During his 3 1/2 years in Europe he often travelled to the continent. He worked 6 months in Germany as a kitchen hand at the United States Air Force Base. In 1964 he moved to Canada where he worked at a radar station in Canada's icy north. In 1965 he set sail back to Sydney via Tokyo. Now 23, he was tired of moving around and determined to start life afresh.

His plan was to go into business on his own, work hard and become successful. Meanwhile he got work on the Snowy Mountains project. Here he met a fellow New Zealander and the two decided that the business would be as "professional crocodiles hunters". At best they would make a lot of money. At worst they would experience some adventure. The friend would buy a Holden panel van to transport them to and around Northern Territory and Ramon would buy a dinghy and outboard motor, thus sharing the cost of the enterprise. They set off for Darwin and the East Alligator River. After two weeks of unsuccessful hunting the friend had enough and drove back to Sydney.

But Ramon was determined to succeed and become proficient at finding, shooting and skinning crocs. He teamed up with another croc hunter and the two hunted crocs by night and fished barramundi by day on a 30 foot fishing boat named Blue Fin. They did become experts in their field, were well known and were interviewed by a number of journalists for TV documentaries and magazine articles. Ramon had become self employed for the first time and vowed never to work for wages again. Meanwhile his interest in art was put on hold.

After 3 years the pair sold the business and went their separate ways. Ward-Thompson headed back to Sydney where he bought a pie run in the vicinity of the Sydney Showground. He collected his pies at 4 am to deliver to shops and schools and finished early afternoon. This left his evenings free, so he took up art once again - the first time in 4 years. He found selling pies somewhat tedious after crocodile hunting and began to look for another challenge. He accepted an offer from a Chinese businessman to operate a 45 foot fishing boat off Nth Queensland fishing for coral trout. The job required underwater diving and there was a danger from sharks as the trout were speared. When the boat was damaged by a cyclone Ramon decided to resign as the skipper and sailed the boat back home to Sydney. On the trip back he had time to think.....and decided he was going to be a painter.

He was now choosing the path he had always been destined to follow sooner or later. This was 1970. He had all his possessions rolled up in a blanket and about $1,000 in the bank. He threw himself fully into his new venture. Painting, studying art, visiting galleries. He met Wendy whom he later married. She was living in the flat next door and gave him great encouragement. To supplement his income he took a job by day and painted till 2am. By 1971 he held his first exhibition in a hairdressing salon of a friend, after closing time. It was almost a sellout.

This made Ramon even more determined to succeed. In 1972 he married Wendy. He left his day job and they decided he would devote 10 years to painting. If he was not making a living from it by then he would give up. He continued to hold exhibitions in halls and the like. In 1974 he held his first exhibition in a gallery, after which John McCullagh offered to pay $200 per week for one year in exchange for all the paintings Ramon could paint. They would be sold through McCullagh's two galleries at Mosman and Harbord. Ramon became an Australian citizen and in 1975 the Ward-Thompsons bought a home in the country at Berrima where they lived for 4 1/2 years. Two daughters were born during this time. The agreement with John McCullough, to buy his paintings, continued for 4 1/2 years. In 1975 Ramon had his first exhibition in Melbourne which was a sell-out.

Sell-out exhibitions continued at the Mosman gallery. Ramon Ward-Thompson's style had been influenced by his grandfather Herbert Ward Thompson, who was one of New Zealand's leading landscape painters. In 1979 the family moved back to Sydney to live at Normanhurst. He held a series of successful exhibitions with customers queuing to have first choice. Galleries were now eager to buy his paintings. In 1985 the Ward-Thompsons moved to St Ives. By this time his paintings were selling to galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra. Ramon's children appear in many of his paintings along with their friends.

By 1990 Ward-Thompson had been painting five days a week for almost 20 years and moved house several times. He decided he needed time to reflect. So they packed up and moved to the United States to live for 12 months at the ski centre of Sun Valley, where they had stayed previously on skiing holidays. Under the visa laws he was not allowed to sell his work in the U.S.A. so his canvasses were sent back to Australia for sale. In the USA Ramon had resolved to paint less and to really think about his art. He had time to go back and re-work his paintings and think more deeply about his art.

This has resulted in even better quality of paintings which has continued since his return to Australia, even though he once again had to increase the quantity of paintings he produced. By 1993 Ward-Thompson was selling his paintings in Japan and had a very successful exhibition in America. He also was launched onto the Limited Edition Print market with Ronald Coles producing two prints. There have been several open and limited edition prints produced since that time.

In 1994 Ramon had a sell-out exhibition of some 86 paintings at the Ronald Coles Investment Gallery in Sydney. At the same time a Limited Edition Book and Print was released. It is limited to 1000 copies, makes excellent reading and contains many of Ramon's paintings. Ramon will continue to grow in popularity with his now superb quality of work.

Like all traditional artists, Ramon Ward-Thompson's subjects are created for him by nature. It is the treatment that he gives to those subjects that makes his work so special. Lately his work has been exposed to a much wider audience through the introduction of prints which means his originals will become even more sort after as more people start collecting his work.