Jon Doran’s original oil paintings are a combination of classical themes, in a fresh contemporary painting style. Quiet misty scenes of Cornwall, from calm rivers to impending north coast cliffs, create a sense of the sublime and are described with a unique signature process of oil painting that blends a range of textures and effects. The surface of the paintings is a variety of abstract marks that on a close inspection are a dance of rough shapes and scrapes layered onto and blending into each other, but at a distance work together to create a sense of being at the location.
His still life paintings explore both flower and inanimate objects in the same quiet meditative quality, but are more intimate in their nature. The subtle variations in colour and tone are a commentary on the nature of perception and the choice of subjects, be it cups, fruit or flowers aim to find the profound in the ordinary.
The overall feeling to his work is one of a calm, meditative and contemplative quietness, with a special attention focused on the poetics of light.
He is inspired by painters such as John Singer Sargent, Euan Uglow and Caspar David Friedrich, and typically paints classical subjects with a disrupted realism. Jon studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art, and has also studied at Florence Academy of Art.
