Ron Morrison - Going With The Flow

It gives me pleasure to present another painting by Ron Morrison of Courteny BC. Ron is not only a master watercolourist, but its pretty safe to say that without Ron - there would be no "Portrait of the Visual Arts in Canada.' Ron planted the seed and after that my personal art blog took on a life of its own.

Those who know watercolours, acknowledge that Ron has the all the tools that make him one of the best in our country. And, like all artists who make the steep climb to success, his journey has been made on steps of self understanding.

I couldn't imagine Ron painting in acrylics or oils. They would be much too restrictive for his temperament. Ron paints with panache. He lets it all hang out and he is at his best when he goes with the capricious flow of water and manipulates it and guides it to tell his story.

Take a look at this painting.

I love its overall architecture. We see a barn. a house, a truck, a car and a small gazebo in the background. The gazebo sits in the centre of a large loosely constructed X. Whoever said that the focus has to be in the quarter quadrant? Ron's gazebo sits "smack dab" on centre stage.

If Ron's work has a trademark, it's in his unending quest for
the story beyond the story. He embraces aging vehicles with open doors and broken windows and missing headlights. He loves rust and has mastered skills in making rust so real that you can almost touch and taste it. Ron loves drawing a cloak of mystery over his works, and he pulls it down with low lying clouds that magically blur with
his background hills.

Its important to note that in this painting - optimism  trumps negativity.  The sky is at its bluest over the gazebo. Ron shakes off the mantra that background hills have to be hazy blue/grey with a small golden arch over the background trees behind the gazebo.

I have long marvelled at Ron's liberated palette. Most painters can only dream of what he does with colour.

Whatever you may say about Ron's work - his fierce sense of independence, and the determination with which he develops his craft around what some consider a restrictive subject theme, and his playful manipulation and exploration of his media make him one of the best.

Artist's Comments

I thought this might be a fun painting to use...its a sketch of an imaginary scene using photos as references for shapes and then combining them and adding imaginary elements or something like that. In other words its from the back of my eyelid but the shapes are accurate because I used photos for the truck and car and the house on the right (I really don't need much in the way of references and sometimes draw elaborate houses from the ol imaginato). Its a fairly workman like painting.