Ken Orton

As a teacher my aim was to develop good visual perception in my students. I believe that the need to respond creatively to those perceptions must be visceral. Those who enjoy the rhythms, tones and colors of our natural world, those who enjoy the lights and shadows of dappled sunlight are the ones most likely to pick up a stick and draw in the wet sand in celebration of those perceptions. I am often described as a photo-realist painter. But my work now is considerably looser – somewhere between photo-realism and a loose expressionism. I still get enormous pleasure watching a person move towards one of my canvases. At that moment when the image switches from being photographic to being to being very human and painterly there is often an uttered "Wow"…..I love them Wows.