INSPIRE: Ellis Pearson capturing light, water and atmosphere in musical and lyrical paintings

Ellis Pearson is a recent addition to the Denmark art scene and Southern Arts and Craft Trail after moving from his Roebuck Bay home in the Kimberley. Originally from Durban, South Africa, Pearson moved to Australia in the 1990s after studying theatre and painting in Paris. He describes himself as a “visual person” who has always been fascinated with visual arts whether it be painting or theatre, and as a painter is happy if he has a brush in his hands. Unable to pinpoint an exact time he fell in love with art, he does recall being gifted an oil paint set from his parents when he was 10, saying that he “painted from there”. After leaving school, he studied graphic design before deciding not to go down the route of advertising, switching to learning painting before settling on acting. During his artistic career, Pearson has worked as an acting teacher at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and as a performer and co-creator with the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. “I’ve done some work with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, which I came down to Albany to perform at the beginning of last year with a new show,” he said. “So I’ve done some work with them and toured around Australia with Spare Parts which was lovely, and I saw lots of parts of Australia I wouldn’t have seen. “I still do a bit of that, but I’m slowly withdrawing from all of that to be in Denmark and to be in my lovely studio.” Pearson said he loves to paint the Australian environment and is fascinated with the depth of water and how it changes with the sky and light. He aims to make his art as spontaneous as possible after starting a piece from a photograph for reference. “I mostly work from photographs rather than being a plein-air painter where they sit in the scene,” Pearson said. “I think mostly because my paintings are big and they take some time, I mostly take photographs and work from there. “With these other types of paintings I just start by making marks, and I kind of make them as spontaneous as possible.” Pearson said his artistic style was influenced by impressionist artists like Monet and Van Gogh since travelling to Europe after finishing school in the 1970s. “I’ve studied art through school and through art school afterwards, and then whenever I’ve travelled the world, I’ve gone to all the galleries and seen the work of impressionists and artists,” he said. “That’s been an amazing experience. “When I left school in 1970 and travelled the next year, like most people do, to Europe I saw my first Van Gogh at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam that had just opened and that was just an amazing experience. “Van Gogh has been a huge influence, and so has Monet and other painters like Picasso — he worked so hard, and is so inspiring in that way, he just painted and painted and painted. “I’m unashamedly inspired by great painters like the impressionists.” Pearson said he likes to think of his art and paintings as “trying to be lyrical and musical” in an attempt to draw his audience into the atmosphere of his work. “I guess that’s where the impressionism is such an influence — to try and capture different light and the light as it was,” he said. “I often describe my paintings as capturing the light as it was at that moment, and trying to put that down in paint. “You kind of create an atmosphere more than what the subject was, which will be water, sky, and clouds — it’s more of the atmosphere you’re trying to create. “You want your audience to be drawn into what you’ve put there.” He pushes himself and his artistic limits in an attempt to do something new, saying he is in a comfortable spot in his career where he is able to make a living off his art. “I’ve tried to be more avant-garde where you push into areas where people haven’t been before,” Pearson said. “You kind of do that when you’re a student, you can explore and be experimental as much as you want to because you’re not trying to make a living as an artist.” It is the first time he has participated in the Southern Art and Craft Trail and is looking forward to future trails. Pearson said that since the Art Trail opened on Saturday he has met numerous people and other artists. “I love that — people coming to your studio and just being able to engage with them, and just meet such interesting people,” he said. Pearson’s impressionist and abstract art can be view at his home studio in Denmark.

INSPIRE: Ellis Pearson capturing light, water and atmosphere in musical and lyrical paintings

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