Thursday, April 15, 2010

Ruination by Ron Morrison, of Courtenay, BC



Thanks go out to Ron Morrisson for sending the FA blog his most recent work. Ron continues to delight and surprise viewers with his mastery of colour and light as a watercolourist.

Ron begins by hanging a canopy of blue sky and trees at the top of his work,almost as a theatrical backdrop for the drama that unfolds on the stage below it.

Note how the blue sky, blends into the peaked silver roof of the larger of the two buildings. The slope of the roof is like a ski run, where the eye slides down and leaps high in the air and descends upon the drama below.

The peaked roof of the building to the left, has an almost liquid sense of light and this is enhanced by the shadowy black forest that surrounds it. There are also reflected highlights which sweep like a spiderweb along the left side.

Ron's work, like this one, appears spontaneous and right hemisphere driven. And Ron is the first to admit that he makes decisions as he works. But that isn't to say that what you see is what you get. This work is the result of careful examination, and several reworks.

I like the way Ron connects the elements of his works. Slide down the building to the lower roof. You find a waterblossom, then a streak of light and then what looks like a pair of crossed 2x4's. And the lower part of this opens into the part of the picture where the action is.

At first glance it looks like a jumble of old cars. Right? Well, look again. The X at the bottom of the peak, takes the eye to the top row of the centre car. Look now at the bottom row and you will find the centre car facing it and sharing some of the same colouring.

Its all part of a wonderfully designed and orchestrated work. Right hemisphere work? Maybe. But there is also a lot of order and control going on.

Ron does things with colour that sets him apart from the watercolour community. Ron's signature is his advanced use of strong contrasting values, advanced understanding of colour, and his effective picture construction skills.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Win, always great fun to be in the F.A.B., a real spirit booster.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent painting, excellent analysis.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for posting your comments.
ATTENTION SPAMMERS: Comments with links to other websites, will not be accepted.

A message for anonymous posters: Comments will be accepted provided they are thoughtful and articulate.

Reciprocating comments between posters will not be accepted. Sorry - I have no intention of giving readers the opportunity to engage in flame wars. It won't happen.

Fredericks-Artworks Blog, copying policy


The Canadian Copyright act, section 29 reports on fairdealing, that it is not an infringement to reproduce someone else's work for research, study, criticism, review or to report. Which pretty much sums up what this site is about. All content sources, be they artists, printed references, and website url's are respectfully identified on this site. http://http//www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-42/latest/rsc-1985-c-c-42.html

Mission Statement
A Portrait of the Visual Arts in Canada, is intended to celebrate the richness of Canada's visual arts, and to promote the arts in Canada.

Statement of Intent
I make every effort to credit the sources of information used in this blog and to obtain the permission and cooperation of all the works presented by living artists. I try, as much as possible to use works from public sources eg. national and provincial collections, of deceased artists. If for any reason, any artist disapproves of anything written about them or their work the artist is encouraged to request withdrawal of the content.