Jan Johnson (Fullbright Scholar 2015-2016) at DJCAD came to the studio today with a copy of the sketch books of Leon Morrocco...I actually thought I was leafing through a real sketch book and kept checking my hands for pastel dust! Leon Morrocco's sketches were absolutely stunning; the pencil line in places was heavy and without any line weight variation, which only added to the confidence of his sketches and the colours were vivid and Mediterranean in feel, sometimes applied loosely with Guache and sometimes obviously matted with sticky oil pastel....the detail in some of the architecture, objects and people was intricate and brilliantly proportioned.... and I was mesmerized....so much so, that I bought a copy of his 2003 sketchbooks on Ebay at the first opportunity and later headed for the art shop to buy a square chunky sketch book, a 4B pencil and some oil pastels....
And to top it off, I researched Leon Morrocco and this is his abridged biography:
Leon Morrocco was born in Edinburgh, the son of an artist with Italian roots. He studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, The Slade, and Edinburgh College of Art. In 1968 he won an Italian government scholarship to study at the Accademia di Brera in Milan. He was lecturer in drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art from 1965-1968, and then took up a similar post at Glasgow School of Art from 1969 and 1979.
In 1979 he moved to Australia as Head of the Department of Fine Art at the Chisholm Institute in Melbourne. He resigned in 1984 to devote all of his time to painting.
INSPIRED!
