Ross Franzi – The Artist and the Man
The work and success of Ross Franzi represents a triumph of the human spirit over adversity.
Caring and kindhearted, always striving for perfection, Ross is very serious about his artwork, and passionate about protecting wildlife and the environment. When not painting, Ross loves being outdoors planting trees or walking and looking through his garden, sitting on the beach and listening to the sounds of the forest — this is nature at its best.
Passion for the Environment
Ross has developed into an artist with passion and commitment. Demonstrating his deep concern for the environment, his landscapes portray the diversity of his artistic ability and have immense appeal for those with a love of wilderness and rural subjects.
Although he is best known for his wildlife and marine paintings, Ross’s subject matter also comprise his beloved aircraft and sensitive landscapes. Through his paintings, Ross tells a story about the environment, wildlife and man’s co-existence with his natural surroundings.
“Art with a difference”
Ross’s testament is,
“To continually strive for the best art that I can do and to teach people art and help them develop their talents.”
“To teach people that we need to look after what we have, the creatures and their habitat are a part of our world as we are, don’t take these wonderful creatures for granted — take care of our world or paintings might be the only way that future generations may see them.”
The Early Days
Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1963, Ross is the youngest son in a family of five children. From an early age, Ross enjoyed drawing and had a keen interest in animals. He fondly remembers times spent as a child with his grandfather who took him to animal shows and steam train rides in the Victorian ranges. Ross also attributes his love and passion for nature to his father, a professional photographer who taught him how to create the perfect picture in detail with respect to light and texture.
At the age of six, Ross moved to Brisbane with his family where he continued with his art, winning several art awards during his primary years.
The Royal Air Force
Upon leaving school Ross joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an aircraft engineer. However, his defence career was cut short in 1993 when he suffered a serious injury to his right ankle which left him disabled and in constant pain. After his discharge from the air force, he suffered both physical and mental anguish and turned his energies towards his love of art and nature to aid in fighting the resulting pain and depression.
The Vikki Harvey School of Fine Art
While recovering from his injury, Ross attended the Vikki Harvey School of Fine Art in 1994, studying traditional art, figure drawing and perspective. Here he developed his creative and artistic skills further and found that expressing his imagination assisted in coping with the pain.
Ross explains,
“Nature is so perfect we can learn so much from it. The pain that is my constant companion is representative of the pain that is felt when man tears at this earth and destroys life.”
Attention to Detail
Through his studies, Ross developed fine art techniques which laid the groundwork for his art career, in particular, his attention to detail. At the conceptual stages, Ross spends time to get the right composition, the image is then drawn in water colour, beginning with the background, followed by the subject. Paint is applied in a traditional manner with a combination of acrylic and gouache to achieve the desired effect.
