Roy McGregor has a wide professional and businessbackground. He spent 30 years as a career banker, 15years of which was at senior level as Marketing Directorand then as Retail Banking Director of a major UK bank.He then became Chairman and Chief Executive of a UKwide Group of Estate Agencies and CharteredSurveying businesses, followed by a few years ininternational consulting.

For a number of years he operated as a private businessangel, investing and gaining extensive experience in therunning of small to medium sized businesses across anumber of sectors including advertising and marketing,web design, golf tourism, and latterly manufacturing inthe transport industry.

His international consulting work has taken him to Spain,Germany, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and the USA. He haslectured at conferences across the world.

He has written for journals, magazines and newspaperson a variety of work related topics.

Although not of an arts background, his studies of, andinterest in particularly Scottish painting, spans 25 yearsand in that time he has, with his wife Gail, built acomprehensive private collection of mostly Scottishcontemporary works.

Today Roy lives and works in East Lothian, Scotlandwhere with Gail he opened Gullane Art Gallery &Gullane Fine Arts in 2008. He is now able to combinehis extensive business experience with his passion for thevisual arts.

This beautifully illustrated book comprises part biographyand part commentary on the work of Jack Morrocco,one of Scotland’s foremost contemporary painters.

Classically trained and a devotee of the disciplines ofdraughtsmanship, Jack Morrocco produces a range andquality of work that mark him out as someone in the trueScottish colourist tradition – an artist whose work is notonly admired today but whose potential points to itbeing highly rated long after he has gone.

The illustrations amply show both the dexterity andversatility of Morrocco’s work with text designed to leadthe reader through from the early years and influences,the stages of development so far in both subject matterand style, to the anticipation of what is yet to come.

JACK MORROCCOA WORK IN PROGRESS

JACK MORROCCOA WORK IN PROGRESS

Roy McG

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£30.00Back cover: Toucan and Blueboy oil on canvas 40” x 40”

Front cover: Cafe in the Shade, Cours Mirabeau, Aixoil on canvas 20” x 30”

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Dappled light, Place Aux Herbes, Uzès, 2009 oil on canvas 20” x 30”

3 I LANDSCAPE

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Landscape – South of France

“Here I find an echo from 100 years ago” JBM

This part of the world has inspired so many in the past. Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Bonnard, Renoir,Leger, Chagall, Dufy, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cocteau, De Stael and many others. They all found thearea and the environment highly stimulating and inspiring for their creative processes.

More recently of course, the travels of the Scottish Colourists saw them centre themselves at variouslocations along the coast or slightly inland, where they too fell for the character of the hillsides, thecoastal scenes, the villages, the townscapes, the vineyards, olive groves and local markets.

In a multitude of books written about many of the above, a common thread comes through – thequality of the light. To the average man or woman from more northerly climes, the south of Franceclimate appeals because of the warmth. To the artist painter, it’s the light that transforms what the eyebeholds, into an ever-present source of shades and tones that spark the fire of imagination and give acall to canvas.

And to Jack it has been no different.He had visited the south of France in 1978 but had a shortage of time and a limited budget. The

trip had been confined to a short exploration of Nice, Cannes and Monaco.He returned some 24 years later when invited to the holiday home of a Scottish art collector who

owned a property in Mougins. As he leisurely strolled around the various nearby locations he beganto see the huge potential offered by the surrounding landscape, the colourful market stalls and caféscenes, the wonderfully rich colours along the coast set against the deep blues of the Mediterraneansea. This was a landscape and environment bathed in sunshine for most of the year and as such, muchdifferent from the one back home where the weather, although a feature to some, was mostly grey andoffered little by way of inspiration.

Although he had barely painted landscape before that time, he felt there was a synergy with hisstudio still life work that had been most of his focus to date.

Jack felt he could say something about the townscapes of the south of France in his own artisticlanguage and that in some way it was a natural extension and development of his approach to thestudio still life work.

“I was able to ease myself into painting French landscape in a moreliteral manner but still with a view to using the basics of simplificationof colour, shape, tone and rhythm in my picture making” JBM

Additionally, he was introduced to a number of galleries in the area and was able to observe theart that they sold. A disappointing feature was the almost slavish following by the majority of artists in

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their production of picture postcard type scenes, mainly of lavender fields and “dreels by the dozen”. Not only was the subject matter relatively dull (once you’ve seen a lavender field, you’ve seen

them all!), but the painting style was essentially “souvenir”. To Jack they were missing the wonderfuland essential qualities of the surroundings and in particular, the climatic atmosphere that he wasbeginning to fall in love with.

To his eye, it was the shapes and patterns created by the intense light especially in the narrowstreets of the towns and villages – the depth of colour in the shadows and of course the saturated azuresky which give the whole area its unique feel.

Jack had no straightjacket in terms of a single painting style and so was free to develop a techniqueto suit the subject rather than putting the subject through the sieve of an established style. (The subjectand issue of single artistic style versus variety of style from the same artist, is dealt with in a later chapter).

He felt strongly that if moving towards landscape painting, his work should be “subject led” andthat the style should be sufficiently adaptable to adequately portray what he and his personalinterpretation of the subject observed.

“When I became fascinated with the dappled light created by theubiquitous plane trees, my treatment was bound to change to be ableto create that lighting effect and atmosphere.” JBM

Jack travelled extensively and soaked in the potential subject matter of Antibes, Cassis, Vence andall along the beautiful coastline.

These early landscape studies owe much to the picture marking techniques of Jack’s studio work

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Morning Market, Toulon, 2006 oil on canvas 24” x 30”

Shaded Cafe, Cassis, 2006 oil on canvas 20” x 26”

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Cours Gambetta, Coutignac, 2007 oil on canvas 20” x 30”

Boulevard d’Aguillon, Antibes, 2007 oil on canvas 20” x 20” St Tropez, 2008 acrylic on board 12” x 8”

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Waterfront, Cassis, 2007 oil on canvas 24” x 24”

Towards Port Vauban, Antibes, 2003 acrylic on board 8” x 8”

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In following years more visits to the area were accommodated, and in 2004 he and Fiona boughta house near Cannes that would become both a base and a second working studio. Jack needed togive more time to what was becoming an increasingly greater part of his painting portfolio.

“In simple terms it is probably the same as is true of portrait painting– if you want a good looking painting, start with a good lookingmodel.” JBM

Their house and it’s central location allowed them to travel easily to various towns such asNice, Cannes, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Uzès and throughout Provence. In other directions they found iteasy to reach the Italian border. They found themselves only two hours from another gem of a place,Portofino.

Every location had its own characterful street market with its colourful stalls and produce,cheery and shaded cafés around tree lined squares, churches with their architecturally historicalsteeples and building designs, local folk and tourists (but strangely not touristy) dressed in brightcolourful clothing, and all set in a quintessential ambience caressed by the shaded sun and bright bluesky.

A morning coffee or a casual lunch, a stroll around the market stalls, a local game of boules, arelaxing siesta type snooze with hat tilted forward, old men on a bench chatting away the hours, and

By the Fountain, St Remy, 2008 oil on canvas 16” x 16”

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these to name but a few – all serving up a wonderful variety of painting subject matter, full of atmosphere,colour and warmth.

By varying the village or town, time of day and year, the fund of reference for the fertile creativemind of an artist was and still is, almost inexhaustible.

Jack became at one with the location. He, like so many before and no doubt still to come, foundit a painter’s paradise.

In gathering suitable reference material camera proficiency was, and remains, key. He actively sources his subjects by planning visits to chosen locations at specific times of week,

day and hour. Knowing when the sun will give the effects he is seeking coupled with the activities ofhis subjects – morning coffee, lunch, the locals at “boules” and so on, all captured by camera inpainstaking fashion.

Every photograph taken is then coupled with detailed notes of specific colours and tones thatJack has observed at the time. Everything to the last detail captured through a lens and on a notepadas back up. These notes are crucial as they enable Jack to compensate for any discrepancy betweenthe colours generated subsequently via the camera and printer and those he observed with the eye atthe time of the shot.

Often, sketches are made of the scene being photographed and artistic license employed toeliminate unsightly stationery vehicles, the ugliness of traffic or an over abundance of people.

From there, these basics are taken back to the studio from where the paintings begin on canvas.

Afternoon Market, Villefranche, 2007 oil on canvas 24” x 24”

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Market Day, Lourmarin, Provence, 2008 oil on canvas 22” x 16”

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Near Chateau Jas d’Esclans, Provence, 2006 oil on canvas 24” x 24”

Dappled Light, Uzès, 2009 oil on canvas 32” x 32”

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Landscape – VeniceJack became enthralled in the creation of his French landscapes and his confidence grew as a styledeveloped. A restlessness born of his need to be continually stimulated led him to look for additionalsubject matter to which this new “style” could be applied, and if necessary adapted and developed.

He had visited Venice on previous occasions and instinctively believed that his new work wouldbenefit from a fresh look at the place, this time from his newly developed landscape painting’sperspective. He was however very conscious that as a location it had been painted by hundreds oflike-minded artistic souls before him – to the extent that often critics considered it now somewhathackneyed as a subject.

Aware that certain views of Venice have something of the picture postcard about them, Jack stillfelt that he could paint the sights in his own language. With a little adaptation to account for the moreformal structures of the built environment – the stunning historic architecture in particular – the samequalities he observed in France were present in Venice.

The narrowness between buildings, the intensity of light, the visual effect of shade, the variety andbeauty of colour in the shutters and parasols, all held parallels with his observations in France. Howeverthere was one gloriously new dimension – that of reflection, and especially the almost mirror-like effectof reflection on the still, often very still, water of the canals.

At different times of the day the same subjects transformed. The shimmering reflections of the canalsmagnified and duplicated coloured gondolas, brightly clad gondoliers and their passengers, themagnificent shapes of the reflected architecture as well as the earth colours of the stucco.

In similar fashion to France, the human element interacted with the natural surroundings – barsand cafés with waiters and customers relaxing; couples strolling or simply standing together to watchthe watercraft pass by; busy waterways and narrow canals with washing hanging overhead; off centreapartment buildings spanned by elegant pedestrian bridges with a lonely gondola beneath. Add thisto the magnificent municipal architecture garnished in flags and drapes, a distant horizon or skylinesimply speaking cultural class and heritage, and subjects for pictures were, and remain, endless.

For an artist not to be inspired by the constantly moving feast of different subject potential wouldbe strange indeed. To be a painter in Venice is to be a grape in the sun – the vitality and sustenanceto be gained represents a form of lifeblood.

“Perhaps I’m just a sucker for punishment, but it is the same difficultythat attracts me to painting silverware and glassware in mytraditional still life work, that attracts me to the shimmeringreflections on the canals of Venice.” JBM

Jack’s method of working in France simply transports itself to Venice. He photographs carefullychosen scenes, writes up copious notes on true colours observed, sketches where appropriate or whenthe mood takes him, uses his license to eliminate obstructing items or obstacles (human or otherwise),and creatively composes the paintings when back at his studio.

He consciously aims to capture atmosphere. This is achieved through selected subjects that bringto the canvas the “day to day”, accurately depict human posture and movement, replay with clever useof dappled shade the time of day or heat of the moment, and give the viewer a sense of familiarity andso an all important relationship with the painting.

The viewer may not actually recognize the scene or place, but they nevertheless feel that they’vebeen there. For someone who has been there, the paintings tend to “speak” to them, and in such a waythat they can “hear” and “feel” the surroundings and atmosphere.

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Early Morning, Dorsoduro, Venice, 2008 oil on canvas 16” x 22”

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Gondoliers in the Shade, 2009 oil on canvas

A Special Triptych

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Basin Orsole, Venice, 2006 oil on canvas 20” x 26”

Grand Canal, 2006 oil on canvas 22” x 24”

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Calle delle Botte, Burano, 2009 acrylic on board 12” x 8”

San Marco, 2006 oil on canvas 20” x 30”

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Early Morning, Santa Maria della Salute, 2006 oil on canvas 16” x 18”

Twilight Venice, 2009 acrylic on board 8” x 8”