Ray Phillips was born in Winnipeg in 1941 and grew up in an environment that encouraged artistic expression. His grandfather, famed Canadian watercolourist Walter J. Phillips, and his father, John Phillips, creative director of Phillips-Gutkin and Associates, were highly influential in his pursuit of an art career.

Ray Phillips received his formal art education at the University of Manitoba School of Fine Art. Upon graduating in 1962, he started a successful career as a commercial artist, initially working at his father's commercial art studio. It was there that he was introduced to the airbrush. He honed this skill during his time at Brigdens, an art photography and photo-engraving company.  In 1969 he and his father started their own company—Phillips Advertising Production Ltd. where he continued to expand his artistic skills. He took up photography and started doing technical illustrations and other aspects of advertising for local ad agencies and major corporations. Despite the demands of a successful business, he always managed to set aside time for his own creative work.

Ray Phillips's exceptionally skillful paintings blend his specialized process utilizing traditional watercolour techniques and airbrush. Through the combination of both, he captured the grandeur and beauty of nature in all its forms. Each of Phillips’s paintings represents many hours of work involving equal parts of technical skill and inspiration from nature. For Phillips, the excitement of painting began with the selection of a subject, followed by the challenge of achieving good design. He admired the qualities of light, shadow, translucence, and reflection that are present in water, earth, and sky. He loved capturing the details and beauty in objects that are often overlooked. Most importantly he received tremendous satisfaction from transforming a blank piece of paper into an image that could bring enjoyment to others.