Painting A Life (Ray Ellis: An Artist Seen Through His Work)

Few artists' work reflects their life philosophies and personalities as directly and intimately as the paintings of nationally recognized impressionist Ray Ellis's. Told through accounts of his life as an artist and demonstrated by his paintings - each accompanied by his explanations of approach and technique - "Painting A Life," creates a visual biography. Readers are invited into his mindset, and informed of the ways in which he translated both good and bad times into color, design and composition. Ellis created a best-of-all-possible-worlds reality and inhabited it with gusto. Life was a celebration, and painting was his invitation to the party. Ray Ellis completed close to six thousand oil and watercolor paintings, most in private collections and public venues around the world. There are fifteen books exclusively devoted to Ellis' paintings, among them: "Martha's Vineyard: An Affectionate Memoir" (with Time, Inc. executive Ralph Graves), "Coastal Images of America" (with famed oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard), and "Lowcountry". In the 1980s, he and renown television journalist Walter Cronkite collaborated on an extremely successful series of three fine books (Oxmoor House Publishing) celebrating America's coastlines in text and images: "South by Southeast," "North by Northeast," and "Westwind." In 1984 he founded the Savannah-based companies The Ray Ellis Gallery and Compass Prints, which exhibits his paintings and publishes his limited edition prints and books, and serves as the custodian of his professional life. It frees Ellis to simply focus on his painting. Ray Ellis, 92, died in October 2013, as this book was being readied for publication. His enthusiasm for the project was consistent with the exuberance he brought to everything he did. He was committed to leaving behind a legacy that would offer aspiring artists encouragement and belief in an everything-possible life.