Clarendon is delighted to present its first solo exhibition of oil paintings by leading Scottish landscape artist John Lowrie Morrison OBE.

Working in oil on paper or canvas, John’s vigorous application of paint in carefree, seemingly random strokes breaths life into his work, which contrasts the rugged scenery of the Scottish Highlands with the more prosaic human elements of crofts, inlets and villages. His painterly style and bold use of colour adds an energy and intensity to each image which persuades us not simply to view the landscape, but rather to experience it.

John’s success is reflected in the recognition he has received for his work. In November 2008 he was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of Scotland and in November 2009 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Abertay Dundee University, for “A significant contribution to Scottish culture”. In the 2011 New Year’s Honours List John received an OBE for services to art and to charity in Scotland.

He has exhibited all over the world and his work is in private collections of many famous faces including Sting and Madonna. His spectacular career has been captured in the films’ I Know Where I am Going” by Mitchell McGlone and the BBC’s ‘The Man With the Golden Brush’ as well as in the books ‘The Colour of Life’

Born in Glasgow in 1948, John pursued a successful career in art education for 25 years rising to Principal Teacher of Art at Lochgilphead High School and Art Adviser to Strathclyde Region. Giving up his teaching career to paint full time in 1997, he has become one of the most eminent landscape artists in Europe,

John donates a percentage of his sales to charity and makes significant donations of art work to charity each year and he and his wife Maureen are Patrons of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. In 2005 John established The Jolomo Foundation, a charitable body aimed at promoting and encouraging the painting of the Scottish landscape. Through The Foundation, the Jolomo Awards were launched in 2006 and by 2010. had become the largest privately funded Arts Award in the UK with first prize of £25,000 plus £10,000 for shortlisted artists.