A little Sunshine in a frustrating year

A great deal of my work year now relies on my travel and experiences throughout the year but I, along with everyone else, have had to endure a compulsory confinement to quarters. I don’t suppose my favourite destinations, the cafes, the piazzas, placas and places, the crowded morning markets and the shaded boulevards will have offered the same visual feast as their occupants suffer the same COVID-19 confinements. I have been reluctant to risk the potential infection of travel and self-isolation on return only to find empty streets and cafes at my destinations, the essential character of my favourite haunts eroded by this virus.

So it has been a frustration but an opportunity to look back through reference from previous years and revisit these destination on the canvas. In the studio I have travelling to the sunny spots of southern Europe trying to portray the sights and evoke the feelings of being there. I am fortunate however to also have my studio and still life work to show unaffected by any lockdown.

All I can hope is that I have managed to bring some of the warmth and colour back to a cold and grey December in Aberdeen so that we can all enjoy a little of the memory of years past and look forward again to visiting our warmer neighbours in Europe and beyond.

The exhibition will be set up by Rendezvous Gallery in such a way that it can be enjoyed from both inside the gallery itself and from the pavement outside to minimise the risk posed to us all by the virus. I will miss meeting guests as there will be no opening evening but you have my best wishes and I hope you can enjoy the show nonetheless.

Jack B Morrocco DA, FRSA