Jamie Morgan

Born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1956, Jamie moved to California in 1974 and has been pursuing Realism his entire artistic career. He earned a BA in Classics from Stanford University in 1978, moved to Oakland and pursued muralism and printmaking at Laney College. Receiving an MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1987 in Printmaking, he worked in commercial art sign painting, arts education and public art mural making. He exhibited his pastel drawings, watercolors and prints at a number of galleries in the Bay Area and in North Haven, Maine. Recently he has focused his energies on Plein Air painting, in watercolors and oils. He is currently enrolled in the Golden Gate Atelier in Oakland to gain a more disciplined accuracy in Realism. He is an Artist Member of the California Art Club.

A back injury and then the Covid-19 shutdown led me to study with a classical realism program devoted to accurate drawing of the figure (see “Figure and Cast Drawings) which has changed the trajectory of my landscape painting. The goal of achieving a “light impression” through careful handling of values and treatment of edges has affected my painting, primarily the watercolors. I have always felt that accuracy in drawing helped me convey the true life of my subjects. But without a better understanding of values I was at a loss to convert my instinct into painting. And the meticulous classical methods of rendering have given me a new-found appreciation of the dedication and time required. At this point, I attempt an honest realism, aided by direct painting, and feel better served having an enlarged toolbox at my disposal, not to be a better copyist but to seek dynamism and meaning as well.