Luis Morris ROI

Statement

Painting offers Luis Morris the chance to celebrate light and the sensual joy derived from seeing. Good paintings are like diary pages - free from the self-editing that goes on when the painter worries what others may think. Luis likes paintings that straddle the boundary between abstract and representational.

Methodology

Luis usually work in oil on shop bought canvas or MDF sealed and primed with gesso. He works relatively small - his average canvas size is 16 x 12 inches. He likes to do preparatory tonal sketches in charcoal, as these help to work out composition and decide what canvas size to use. Luis uses flat acrylic brushes because of the range of marks you can get with them, from flat patches of colour to sharp lines and dots. As the brush gets older the painting get less crisp, but this isn't always a bad thing. If he could, he would always work from life. Luis does work from photos he has taken, trying to remember what it was like when he was there, but is annoyed by the inevitable comparison with this other two-dimensional image.

Bio

1963 Born 24th October in Wrexham

1980 Gained an A level in art at Testbourne Secondary School, Whitchurch, Hampshire

1984 Left an Architecture degree course at Nottingham University to join De La Rue as an apprentice banknote designer

Over the next 13 years designed currencies for several countries around the world

1998 Left De La Rue to become a freelance artist/ Illustrator. Specialised in the portrayal of tennis players. Gained commissions from the Lawn Tennis Association and the All England Club, Wimbledon

2000-2002 Studied for the Diploma in Portraiture at Heatherleys School of Art