{"id":27773,"date":"2018-02-09T03:54:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T11:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=27773"},"modified":"2018-02-07T20:38:54","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T04:38:54","slug":"bursting-with-colours-and-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/02\/09\/bursting-with-colours-and-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bursting with colours and joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist Lauren Morris at the opening of her solo show, Dressed in Colour, at the Zack Gallery Jan. 25. (photo from Lauren Morris)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dressed in Colour, Lauren Morris\u2019s new solo exhibition at the Zack Gallery, perfectly reflects the artist\u2019s relationship with the world. \u201cEverything about me is colour,\u201d she said in an interview with the Independent<\/em>. \u201cColours bring this show together.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is Morris\u2019s second solo show at the gallery, the first having been in 2015. She is known for her vivid flowers and colour-infused compositions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always explore new colours, always learn, always take new photos. Living in Vancouver makes me want to paint even more colours,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Inspiration has not always come easily, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout five years ago, I took a sabbatical. I didn\u2019t paint for more than a year, didn\u2019t know what to paint. I was stuck,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore that period, I always used someone else\u2019s vision as a starting point: photographs I found online, other artists\u2019 pieces. But it stopped working for me. Then, I realized that it doesn\u2019t matter what I paint. I began taking my own photographs. Now, I base everything I paint on my own experiences. I love nature, I enjoy flowers, and it all comes out in my art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Influenced by nature, Morris creates large canvases where colours, shapes and light intertwine into unique flowery abstractions, beautiful but never photographic or even realistic. Her flowers come from her imagination, with depth and texture adding meaning. \u201cThere is always something mystical in my paintings, something unknown,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot is going on in every picture, and the multiple layers create reflections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris paints with acrylics, but this medium, despite its growing popularity, has its quirks. \u201cAcrylics dry fast, and they often become dull when dry,\u201d she explained. \u201cTo brighten the images, I use varnish on top of acrylics. Varnish makes the magic come out. People even ask me if I paint in oils.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
\u201cWater Lilies\u201d by Lauren Morris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her flowers are larger than life. One can\u2019t even see the overall image until one is at a distance from the work. \u201cWhen I paint, I often stand back a lot,\u201d Morris said of her creative process.<\/p>\n

For her, a painting is never finished until it is no longer in her possession. \u201cYesterday, I saw something wrong in one painting in this show,\u201d she said the day before the exhibit\u2019s opening night. \u201cSomething bothered me, so I brought my paints and touched it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, she starts a painting with a preconceived image, but, like living things, her pieces frequently have a mind of their own. \u201cMy paintings often surprise me, and I always allow them to happen,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I planned something else, but the image evolved somehow, I find it fascinating. If something doesn\u2019t work, I fix it. I don\u2019t have an anxiety. I don\u2019t fear the canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris trusts her intuition, and it makes her paintings vibrant. It also makes her an excellent teacher. Lately, she has been teaching adult art workshops at the Designers Collective. \u201cMost of my students are beginners,\u201d she said. \u201cThey come to the workshop and they\u2019re unsure. They think they can\u2019t paint. I teach them not to be afraid. I bring art to people. I tell them: there are no mistakes in art. It\u2019s not about technique. Art is a self-exploration. If you don\u2019t like something you already painted, we\u2019ll cover it up with something new. Maybe the old image will peek through, like a reflection of something different…. I try to make people believe in themselves. It\u2019s almost a therapy class.\u201d<\/p>\n

She applies the same approach of playful exploration to her own work, fearlessly searching for beauty in her art. \u201cI\u2019m never bored when I paint. My art excites me. I get absorbed by my paintings,\u201d she said happily.<\/p>\n

Morris\u2019s canvases seem to thrum with the strands of silent music, a quiet serenade of water lilies in a deep-green pond or a loud trumpeting from the white, extravagant bouquet exploding with elation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, I always listened to classical music when I painted, but, a few years ago, I stopped,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, I paint in silence. I still love music, but not when I paint. Maybe, it happened because there is so much noise around us, with the internet and the city life.\u201d She doesn\u2019t want the ambient noise of the urban sprawl to interfere with her paintings. \u201cI want to create a mood,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to make people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, people find delight in her paintings. In the past five years, she has been participating in the Eastside Culture Crawl, and sales \u2013 a challenge for any artist \u2013 have been encouraging. She has donated several of her paintings to various medical establishments around Vancouver, and her website also gets lots of traffic.<\/p>\n

Her commissions have become almost a business, and she treats them as such. She starts practically every day with a few hours in her studio. \u201cEach painting becomes a project to complete,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen clients come to me with a commission, my interior designer\u2019s background kicks in. They have a vision of what they want: a size, a shape, a place on a wall in their home. I understand someone\u2019s vision. It doesn\u2019t make me feel constricted. If I\u2019m able to get their vision right \u2013 the size, the colour scheme, the overall impression \u2013 I\u2019m glad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dressed in Colour is on display until Feb. 24. For more information about Morris and her work, visit lmdesignsstudio.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Lauren Morris at the opening of her solo show, Dressed in Colour, at the Zack Gallery Jan. 25. (photo from Lauren Morris) Dressed in Colour, Lauren Morris\u2019s new solo exhibition at the Zack Gallery, perfectly reflects the artist\u2019s relationship with the world. \u201cEverything about me is colour,\u201d she said in an interview with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[3522,2722,6691,40],"class_list":["post-27773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-lauren-morris","tag-nature","tag-painting","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}