Croft visit left indelible mark on artist’ s soul

Prized by celebrities and loved by the wider public, John Lowrie Morrison’s vivid, atmospheric landscapes are instantly recognisable.

The artist, who famously signs his work Jolomo, is to open a major exhibition of more than 40 new paintings on May 7 at the Strathearn Gallery in Crieff.

The new work will focus on Argyll and the Western Isles and especially on the two types of building that have fascinated Jolomo since childhood.

The artist says that his “obsession” with crofts goes back to his family’s roots on the Isle of Harris.

“My father was from there. The family is still there with many, many cousins of Morrisons, MacLeods and MacSweens and not just in Harris but also Lewis, the Uists and the Isle of Skye,” he says.

“The Hebrides are embedded in my psyche and I’ve been obsessed by croft houses since my first visit to the family croft on Harris as a child in the 1950s. That visit made an indelible mark on my soul.”

To Jolomo, the croft house signifies hard work and resourceful people.

“I’ll not include figures in my paintings but I’ll paint a ladder leaning against the croft house, or an open door or gate, footprints in the sand... showing that someone was there,” he says.

“I just love painting croft houses and even the red phone boxes or Royal Mail letter boxes which are still so important on the isles.

“I feel quite emotional about it as it makes me think of my forbears and how they lived. I think I painted my first croft house with a phone box in 1966 on the Isle of Skye.”

Studying architecture at school and at Glasgow School of Art gave Jolomo a deep appreciation of buildings integral to Scottish culture.

“The chimney pots of a croft house – all different,” he reflects.

“The chimney stacks – all different. Fenestrations are all different. Even the corners of the croft house are different, sometimes sharp, sometimes curved to stop the corner whistling in a high wind.

“Everything in the design of a croft house is there for a reason.”

This appreciation perhaps also explains the focus on another prominent building in this exhibition – the lighthouse.

Jolomo has been fascinated by the structures since childhood and reckons he’s read “nearly every book” about them.

He adds: “I’ve always been obsessed by lighthouses – how the lights in the tower work and the different tower shapes depending where they’re placed. I also like the fact a lighthouse is important and stands so stately in the landscape.

“I painted my first lighthouse when I was eight years old and on holiday at Tighnabruaich, doing drawings and paintings of Caladh Light.”

Jolomo, who lives and works in Argyll, worked for 25 years in art education before leaving work to paint full-time in 1997.

His distinctive bold and vibrant landscapes of Scotland quickly made him one of the country’s most iconic, popular and celebrated painters, with art-buyers worldwide collecting his work.

Following events of the last few years, Jolomo is happy to be once again exhibiting paintings in gallery exhibitions and also seeing a strong interest and demand for Scottish landscape painting.

“The painting of the Scottish landscape has had a long life going back nearly 250 years,” he says.

“To me, Scottish landscape painting was starting to die off during the 90s but I definitely think this form of painting is very healthy again, as it deserves to be, bringing great joy to so many.”

Another affirmation of this is Jolomo being invited by the Curatorial Board of the 2023 Florence Biennale to show his work. A place many leading British artists and designers have shown at over the years – from David Hockney to Vivienne Westwood.

Susan Bennett, owner of the Strathearn Gallery, says: “We’re delighted to be welcoming John to the gallery again – an association that goes back to the gallery opening in 1994.

“John’s exhibitions have always been popular and busy with the gallery at its most vivid and colourful.

“As such a renowned artist, we also see many families visiting, as ‘Jolomo’ is an artist learned about through the school curriculum, so we hope it helps inspire the next generation of Scottish artists.”

The show opens at 10am on May 7 and John will be attending the opening between 3pm and 5pm. It runs until June 5. strathearn-gallery.com/

WORK ON SHOW: Jolomo is happy to be once again exhibiting paintings in gallery exhibitions – including Strathearn Gallery in Crieff.

Artist says he is obsessed with crofts.

John Lowrie Morrison hard at work.