FineMark National Bank & Trust Exhibition
Sir Roland Richardson “en Plein Air”
February 2 to March 25, 2023
“It was an honor to be offered such a generous and exquisite opening sponsored by FineMark National Bank and Trust at their elegant 800 Laurel Oak Drive headquarters in Naples, Florida. This represented to me not only a wonderful opportunity to debut many of my newest works from 2022, but also my entire 60 years of experience as a professional artist to a whole new audience of very encouraging viewers. We were overwhelmed with the attendance of over 200 guests.
They were treated to a sumptuous evening of fine art, lovely music, fine beverages and haute cuisine hors d’oeuvres catered by their Executive Chef, Richard Rowland, a fabulous name coincidence, now our good friend! Our deepest gratitude to the remarkable FineMark team.”
Sir Roland Richardson
The creative staging of Sir Roland’s exhibition took three days of climbing up and down and carrying artworks all around. The final result was like piecing together a magic puzzle.
We hope you enjoy the show!
FineMark National Bank & Trust Exhibition 2023
Sir Roland Richardson “en Plein Air”
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“The waterlilies float on water at one moment, then are suspended in the sky among the clouds. At other times they are somewhere in a dark void. They are neither here nor there. Other times they glow as if they have an inner light and makes you wonder, “Are there pads and flowers, ripples or reflections out there, or are all inside your mind?”
Sir Roland Richardson
“The waterlilies invite you to wonder what is reality. The variety of its flowers, its multi-colors, scalloped, smooth, or variegated leaves, are a delight to observe. They float on water, they suspend from the sky upside-down among the clouds, and look at themselves in the reflecting mirror of the water.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“Charcoal to me is magical, mysterious and mystical. How can this feather-weight dust of a burnt piece of wood have delicacy and boldness, sensuousness and ruggedness, and transform a plain piece of paper into the presence of a living thing? It’s range of expression reaches back to the most ancient times. It has offered every artist throughout millennia personal expression, adapted to every whim of style and subject and still maintain an eternal quality - from the cave dwellers to the Renaissance to Impressionism and gratefully to my hand as well.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“Sometimes after hours of concentration and struggle to connect with the mood or character or rhythm with the feel of the color, you turn aside and are captivated by a new view and your brushes seem to take on a life of their own. The color flows effortlessly and the painting comes to life in a flash.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“The artist’s ultimate dream is in self-forgetfulness.
The subject takes you into its realm and allows you the experience unpremeditated of its beauty. Color is the most appropriate medium for this revelation. The time spent in front of your subject allows its beauty to flow into you, then onto the canvas and from the canvas, into the viewer.” Sir Roland Richardson
“The Mas is a stone building. They are usually small and stand like guardians keeping watch over the orchards, vineyards and lavender fields in France. They invite you to dream not of the past only but also the present. They are practical, storing tools and equipment, and shelter in inclement weather. They are also romantic reminders of centuries of caring for the land, built by hand from stones gathered from the fields.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“When you find yourself in a tiny village several centuries old, you know that you are somewhere other than familiar. The narrow, winding streets are more like alleys that sometimes end in someone’s courtyard. Made hundreds of years ago for feet, carts and horses, many are impassable by car. The ancient cobblestone and stone walls, former stables now homes, are new to you yet familiar and friendly as are the inhabitants. Around the quiet, curving path, Arthuro’s cottage explodes in colorful potted flowers with wisteria and bright red windows and doors.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“The Royal Poinciana is the largest red-flowering tree in the world. In the Caribbean, we call it the flamboyant tree which is a declaration of its character. From my earliest memory, I have loved the red flamboyant tree. Now, I understand that the color Red is the symbol of something Divine. It radiates a transformative, uplifting, ennobling, joyous presence that is nothing less than a spiritual quality, not only felt but also seen.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“Portraiture is more than look-a-likeness. The physical body is just one aspect of the person. The personality is as variable as one’s color or gender or stature or morality. The outward appearance is molded by invisible inner subtle qualities - their aura. Foremost, in a person’s aura is consciousness which I think of as the spark of life in them. This presence is the true subject of portraiture. The beautiful tree or landscape, the bouquet or bowl of colorful fruit, will not and cannot respond to the painted image they inspired - only a human can.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“The “Still Life” is not just a picture of fruit, flowers and things on a table. They are studies of life through color. In fact, color is the subject for without color there would be no objects to see or paint.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“For years, every Wednesday and Thursday morning, I would invite people to come to my studio, talk to them about Art and Light and Color, and then paint a picture of the various flowers and fruits and cloth that I had gathered that morning. Very often, the flowers of choice were bougainvillea because of their many brilliant colors and constant bloom despite their thorns to assemble in bouquets!”
Sir Roland Richardson
“When suddenly you glimpse a corner of your garden, its rhythm, its movement, the variety of its bright colored flowers, its deep shade, the dazzling blades of grass bathed in warm sunlight, covered by the endless blue sky – it becomes a universe.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“En Plein Air” means painting outdoors. It is a far more complex and often challenging undertaking, even more so if you wish to paint large canvases. Your first challenge is to transport your material to the spot that has drawn you to it. The initial phase involves engineering. You have to set up on the terrain, and until you have achieved that, you cannot begin to paint. Most of the time, I deliberately don’t look at the subject. I wait until I am ready, then I give it my full and undivided attention.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“The bougainvillea is a very uncommon subject to choose for a still life painting. Gathering blossoms of different colors requires time to trim branches from many plants. It is full of prickles and often a painful sacrifice to make a bouquet. Their cut branches quickly fade and require focus and speed to paint. The luminosity radiating as the light passes through its delicate petals, makes it all worthwhile. Each bloom is like a study in stained glass where the color glows in the light.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“Color is light that has become visible. Light is the source and force that creates life. Color reveals that life all around us in everything that we see.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“Portraiture is a means of redemption for me. A means by which I can leave behind, after me, a trace of our effort to show that humans seen in a gracious manner are the creation of a higher source of our origin than just sperm and egg. They are, and should be, a testimony. They should reflect not only the likeness but the spirit of God’s intention.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“Every portrait I paint is created from life. I spend hours with my subject sharing personal time studying not only the light and shadow of their features, but their inner light. Most important to me is its timelessness and its eternal message.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“I try to approach my subject without premeditated opinion or intention. I want always to be as open as possible in order to see what my subject is willing to show and share with me, but I always fall short because I can’t help hoping that I will glimpse the angelic beauty that is in them. It is that spark of life, that inner consciousness, that I am always trying to be worthy to be graced to see.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“The color of the lavender fields is as subtle and changing as its perfume on a breeze. Now it is grayish, then brownish, reddish, bluish, greenish. Then a cloud passes over and in its shadow, it is stormy, then it looks hard and then tender, now cool, now hot…the fields extend to the horizon or are contained in small plots: a living, beautiful spectacle.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“Discovery occurs only in the absence of preconception. Revelation occurs when you least expect it. Inspiration occurs when the spirit of your subject comes into you, changes your perception and you discover a whole new way to see.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“The nature and character of yellow is to glow. That which glows is intense in its center and radiates outward, getting paler as it moves away from its nucleus. It is not trying to become a form. It was to dissolve into insubstantial light. The sunflower fields radiate a sweet aura and aroma.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“The artist’s ultimate dream is in self-forgetfulness.
The subject takes you into its realm and allows you the experience unpremeditated of its beauty. Color is the most appropriate medium for this revelation. The time spent in front of your subject allows its beauty to flow into you, then onto the canvas and from the canvas, into the viewer.”
Sir Roland Richardson
“By painting outdoors “en Plein Air,” we experience the reality of the constant change, the flow of life. The same scene – the waterlilies for example – morning, noon or afternoon, are all beautiful and completely different, constant and constantly changing - timeless.”
Sir Roland Richardson
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“Color is the immaterial substance out of which everything that we see is made. Each picture is a study of color. Each color has a character, a personality, a manner individually revealing itself so the idea is to respectfully study each color and follow its lead. The result is always a discovery and discovery is always something new about something familiar.”
Sir Roland Richardson