Capturing the Magic - Ron Morrisson

This is Ron Morrisson at his best. Ron's paintings sparkle with vitality and energy and colour. But, there are many who believe that Ron takes them up a notch when he includes his homebrew stories to go with them.




I.M.Beaton

All righty then, this may take some 'splainin', so bear with me...My grandmother was a Rosicrusian who would tell anybody who would listen that, "when she went, she wanted her ashes spread in her garden." As a precocious child I figured I could untangle this riddle. A Rosicrucian must be some kinda gardener specializing in roses. But where was she going and what did "ashes" have to do with anything? If I'm a nut case its partly her fault, I'm pretty sure. Her husband was a newspaper editor for the old Vancouver Times and an amateur painter. He checked out the week I was born. All through my childhood I looked at two muddy oil paintings that hung above the chesterfield in Granny's livingroom.


My brothers used to ask our dad to draw stuff to illustrate the stories he would cook up for us kids. He couldn't draw worth a lick but he gave it a shot. My brothers were always impressed, but I would look at the drawings and shake my head, the ol' man would grin and that was that. When I would draw something he would show his poker buddies and generally advertise the productions of his oldest kid. Well he packed it in too, leaving the whole outfit shy of male influence. As luck would have it, my grandmother had a brother. In retrospect my great uncle was prolly a full blown loon, that no responsible parent now would let a kid anywhere near. But times were different and I was shipped off to see visit the iconoclastic recluse (that may be redundant, but you get the idea) for weeks at a time during the summer. I would be about ten and his shack was in the interior and it was hot and magical and I learned a lot of stuff that I maybe shouldn't have.
I called him, "Gunk"..a contraction of great uncle. Thing is, the ol boy was sort of a patron of the arts and a polymath and encouraged me to draw and paint. He was an incurable contrarian and encouraged me to question everything as a matter of principle. He had (wait for it, you can see it coming) wrecked cars and junk and told me what they were and how they got to his yard. I loved the idea of the junkers and the designs, colours and history...I was hooked.Gunk sent me supplies, books and encouragement until he joined the rest of the crowd up above (I hope). He lived to see my first big junkyard painting and was over the moon about the whole production, somebody else saw what he saw...beautiful junk.
Gunk's real name was Ian Marshall Beaton. An appropriate name for a natural "bad attituder" who didn't see any real future for mankind, yet whose bright light shone on his grand nephew (or whatever I was).

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Watercolourist Profile: Ron Morrison, Courteney BC

Whatever else, Ron Morrison will surprise you. He's a dynamic Canadian Watercolourist from Canada's west coast. Ron is a self admitted motorcyclist with a passion for art. He is self taught, and admits to having began dabbling in watercolours after he left school and he has never looked back since. When you check Ron's profile on his website, you discover that Ron likes shaking the boat.

And shake it he does! For one thing, Ron love painting old cars and boats. His portfolio is rich with paintings of junked cars and beached boats. This is Ron's primary interest, and as he has often said, he paints them a lot, because there is something in them which captures his personal quest for growth. And, when you peel back the "I like that colour," critiquing and delve into how it all flows together - colour dynamics, subject arrangement, visual flow, and atmosphere you can see what Ron means. And, I never cease but to be amazed how Ron can redefine the same subject, over and over - like a golfer perfecting his swing in that constant search for perfection.

Intriquingly there are parallels which can be drawn between the works of the earlier BC iconic painter, Emily Carr, and Ron. Emily explored decaying Haida villages where the people had vanished and their totem poles and buildings are leaning and falling into decay as the forest embraces and reclaims them. But for Ron, its his search for the nostalgic, haunting, primitive, reclaimative beauty in old discarded boats, cars and trucks, which blurs with a sense of loss and nostalgia.

I sense an empathy in Ron, for his crumbling old vehicles. And, I find myself wondering if it isn't all part of a grand metaphor on the human condition and Ron isn't making a statement that beauty triumphs over all.

What captures my attention is how Ron uses his art to create atmosphere. The car in this posting has dignity and pride as it sit alone in the field. It sparkles with light and it is the stuff of poetry.

Ron searches for what remains after the beautiful old family car which has been lovingly waxed by caring hands, and then experienced social rejection. If you look carefully behind the broken windows you see a teasing play of light and shadows and you sense the presence of a world of sprites.

Ron is a master extraordinaire in understanding what colours to use to create the atmosphere he seeks, be it a phosphorous, moonlit sky or the brilliance of an afternoon sun - and then, he takes this light and explores how it effects colour on metal and paint.

I suspect that Ron finds conventional landscapes and florals boring and too restrictive. There is not enough room for him to explore the breadth of his paintbox and to include the kind of detail he searches for and the fineness of expression he seeks.

The amazing thing about Ron's works is that he plots his course as he goes along. There is no preplanning, and there are no values sketches. What you see is what you get. Its the magic of his spontaneous touch. Its the ulimate of right brain painting.

Ron Morrison has carved for himself a unique place in the community of Canadian art and he is an artist to be reckoned with.

http://watercolourproductions.blogspot.com/