The ability of Inuit and First Nations peoples to imagine and believe in mythical characters and his contact with wild life and the rugged terrain of Labrador, draws Ritchie back each summer. From his Labrador companions' stories, he takes his inspiration for his art. He spends his winters at St. Michael's printshop on the outskirts of St. John's, Newfoundland. His art is filled with half-mythical images of animals and birds as well as the wildlife that portray the tranquility of the north. Often he superimposes forms of wildlife upon landscapes, giving the impression that the land is impregnated with the spirits of animals and birds.
Animals are a dominant theme.
But, as Ritchie points out, 'the key to survival in the north is out-thinking them. The close interaction between man and animals is obvious in works such as 'Trout,' a lithograph of a fish with two faces in its gills, and 'Caribou,' about a boy who married a caribou and whose face is visible in the animal's antlers. . . . Ritchie supplements his income by fishing in summer with an Inuit sculptor, Gilbert Hay. Hay, a native Labradorian and a close friend, supplies many of the stories and myths he incorporates in his art. About 1981 Ritchie had Hay started on print-making and since then Hay has exhibited many of his prints.