Document text
July 17, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 8, 2004 Experiments with Color By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings After working for more than two decades to become one of the nation's premier watercolorists, local artist Judy Morris has branched off in new directions. The Medford resident's acrylic paintings of the Italian countryside now on display in Ashland's Hanson Howard Gallery are a visual feast of elegant patterns and rich, luminous colors. Morris also is exhibiting a series on waterlilies that combine painting with layers of copper leafing and torn papers. The tactile effect of the two series would be impossible to achieve with the flat surfaces of traditional watercolor paintings. Last year, Morris publicly revealed her experiments in new media at the Rogue Gallery and Art Center in Medford at a time when she said she was "still learning." The current show demonstrates her growing confidence and skill. Morris said the change, while relatively new to gallery-goers, has been a long time coming. "It all developed because I was a high school art teacher at South Medford High School," said Morris, who taught there for 30 years after earning a master's degree in art education from Southern Oregon University. "I was learning and experimenting with different art materials, so in my work, I developed my watercolor technique and had been experimenting on the side with other media. It crept in a little at a time." Morris said she fell in love with watercolor while pursuing her graduate degree and went on to win membership in the exclusive American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society. In 1996, she retired as a teacher to become a full-time professional artist, painting and teaching workshops in Italy, Switzerland, France, England, Canada and Mexico. Her numerous trips to Italy - the first as a chaperone for a school trip - inspired her new paintings of villas, farm buildings, fields and olive and cypress trees. In her painting "Olivo," the sage, olive and pine-hued leaves of the tree are depicted using a pattern reminiscent of Old World upholstery or tile. Similar patterns, as well as thin vertical striping, appear in many of the works. "I make stencils and stamps, draw on the paper and paint, and even use corrugated cardboard - anything that will make a pattern," she said. "My feeling is I like patterns from 25 feet away to look dark. As you get closer to the painting, it becomes visible. I use it as something that is a little surprising. You want to entertain the eye and make every square inch as interesting as possible." Patterning like old-fashioned velvet wallpaper appears in the peach, rose and sienna sky of the painting "Lavenda." The sky is offset with a row of cypress trees and a farm building in the middle ground, while rows of lavender plants fan out toward the viewer in the foreground. Morris said her trips abroad, especially to Italy, have shaped the new direction of her artwork. "I love the textures, layering and history you get from Europe, not with every country, but with Italy particularly," she said. "I've been to Italy 14 times. I love Tuscany, northern Italy and Venice. I love going to Switzerland, but I did not have the same feeling. Switzerland is very clean and tidy. I sort of like the Italian attitude about letting the personality of buildings come through." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams