We had the good fortune of connecting with Ron Breeden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ron, how do you think about risk?
Everything is a risk of some sort. Managing the risk is the issue. If you prepare for a risk you have identified and train for how to: 1 Deal with it and: 2 reduce it. I was a first responder for many years and we trained for different situations. When faced with something risky you would get help, plan what you were going to do and how you wanted to address it and then you could execute the plan with confidence. If something unprepared for happened you could stop assess the risk and if you deemed it too high back out and call in help with specialized training and skills on dealing with the situation you were in. In my art career, the risk is not physical harm, but assessing financial risks and risks to my reputation as an artist. I didn’t prepare for these situations or really think about them because I had another income that was my primary source of support, so now I often feel the risks I face is daunting. The competition for opportunities to show and sell your art is very high and so are the risks of getting caught up in a scam, make bad choices in direction or misjudging if an opportunity is going to help you get to where you want to be, is easy because you want to “get your stuff out in the world” and can be too aggressive to jump on things when they appear to come your way. Also being too timid and too cautious can also derail your path. I tend to be of the cautious group, You have to look at what you want and evaluate your self, your personality and motives and make the best choices you can and look at the risk involved as something that is just there. You have to be conformable with the risks you take and realize you may not succeed. If you are realistically comfortable with the risk, go for it. If not back up and you can always try another tack.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art stemmed from doing landscape photography, when I was young. It was informed by my love of backpacking and desire to preserve wild country. As I began painting in earnest, other subjects began to interest me and I left landscape painting behind. Then a few years ago, I was at my former gallery in Sacramento, talking with other artists about where they traveled and lived. When I told them about living in the hinterlands near Nevada City, CA and about the wildlife around , they seemed to find it quite exotic. I had been painting and sculpting Dogs for some time and might be a nice change of pace to paint the flora and fauna in and around my neighborhood of Cascade Shores. I have limited myself to painting thing within a 3 mile radius of my house. My dog paintings have one of three themes. Many of them are allegorical, about being a person in our current society and times, as told to us by a creature that loves us best and wants to be most like us, our dogs. I also paint about death and remembrance. They are about memories memorials and those we have loved and lost. I also paint pet portraits and some work of dogs just being dogs.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would probably fly fish the south Yuba river. Mountain bike hoot and the Scott’s flat drop. Hit Wheyward girls creamery for cheese and when the restaurants open bak up, have dinner at New Moon Cafe, with lunches at Kane’s and Margaritas. We would probably spend most of the time hanging out in my backyard, however.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Of course my parents deserve credit for raising me. My wife for putting up with me. and Roger Churches, who pasted away last year, for teaching me.

Website: www.ronbreedenfineart.com
Instagram: Ron Breeden Fine Art
Linkedin: Ron Breeden
Facebook: Ron Breeden Fine Art

Image Credits
Terri Colagross, Curt Colagross, Ron Breeden