AFCA
Morgan +4
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The Beginning of a Journey in Art
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My
first formal art training was from Costa Mesa artist David Vaughan
who stressed
the importance of drawing. He often said "Art
is not a thing- it is the spirit of the thing." This was supposed
to be a painting class but we never did get to paint anything. We drew
a lot of subjects in charcoal and pastels, with emphasis on the basic
forms on large cartridge paper that turned the colour of tobacco with
age. This short college course was beneficial as I was able to use Vaughan's
techniques years later when I gave my own pen and ink and drawing classes.
I made up my own 7 basic forms (Vaughan added the spiral to the traditional
sphere, ovoid, pyramid, cylinder, cube and cone) and still use these
when I teach drawing. |
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Quadra Chains |
When I moved my family back to B.C. from California I enrolled in a drawing class in Port Coquitlam with Elaine Cramer as instructor. Elaine was a fine pastel painter and designer. It was here I began the first of several series of notepaper and prints. In the seventies and eighties Michael Duncan, Dianna Ponting and I drew in pen and ink many of the notable wooden buildings, especially the general stores and churches, around British Columbia. I was also inspired by Ron Woodall's paintings and his book The Magnificent Derelicts. So I drew a lot of pen and ink subjects, tugs and fishboats and cabins and homes, and gave several classes in pen and ink techniques in Port Coquitlam. But with time people's tastes change. I needed to do something different and decided that it was time to take up painting in earnest. |
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The Jacket
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After doing all the exercises in various painting books I
joined the Federation of Canadian Artists and took a number of Foundation
Courses . Wonderful artists who revealed all their theory, techniques and
trade secrets so us fledgling artists could find our way through the mysteries
of watercolours, oils and acrylics, pastels and gouache, coloured pencils
and ink and gesso. It was great using all this new stuff and to eventually
put something on paper, masonite or canvas that we could call our own. Everything we learn comes from many sources, whether from the old masters, the impressionists, the group of seven, or the exceptionally talented artists who teach the Federation classes in Vancouver. To my instructors Mike Svob, Rick McDiarmid, Suzanne Northcott, Donna Baspaly, Joyce Kamikura, Jeane Duffey, and Don Farrell I owe a great debt of gratitude. Add illuminating demonstrations by Robert Genn (and inspiration from his newsletters), Kiff Holland, Ruth Sawatzky, Marilyn Timms, Margaret Elliot, Bob McMurray, Janice Robertson, Tom Huntley and others and I was treated to a variety of talent second to none anywhere. To have taken classes with fellow AFCAs Merrilee Sett and Manya Milkovich has made the journey to this point all the more enjoyable. Some of my recent work has been in watercolours employing a "negative painting" technique which involves lifting pigment from the paper to create images. To my success in this process I credit Don Farrell whose instructions in design were a revelation. I also do some oils and acrylics but presently I'm working on a series of images developed with inks and gouache . It was Margaret Elliot who introduced me to this technique. I find that whatever method I use the process evolves and each generation of paintings replaces what has gone before. And that's as it should be. |
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Salish Basket |
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My inspiration to paint does not come from any particular
source. I am constantly on the lookout for new subjects. I find satisfaction
depicting relationships between people. I look for the abstract in the
realistic. I take pleasure in creating a painting from subjects most
people would overlook. I believe an artist must continually practice
new ways of doing things. To study, explore and improvise: the artist's
way to distinction, whether writing, playing an instrument, or using
a paint brush.
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Exhibitions & Awards
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Contacting the Artist Bob Sheridan AFCA rcsheridan@shaw.ca
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All art copyright by the artist. |
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