Ben Purvis, Southern Breeze Gallery’s featured artist, is a skilled illustrator and fine artist who is increasingly known at the national level for his series of impressionistic Bayou paintings.

The technique which Ben, a graduate of Ringling School of Art and Design, uses to paint his beautiful Bayous is nothing he learned at school. It transpired as an accident. One day, unhappy with the way his oil painting was going, he threw the turpenoid used to thin his paints directly at the canvas. Staring at the now-destroyed painting he saw in the mess something he had experienced as an outdoor enthusiast in the backwaters of the south: a bayou with languid trees, meandering watercourse and light cutting symmetry on all of it. He picked up his palette knife and called forth what he saw, adding sky and water to the piece, as if the medium itself had said, “Look, this is how you do it. This is where you go."

Born into an artistically-gifted family, Ben’s earliest encounters with art were the landscape and wildlife watercolors of his architect father and the many wins his sister—now an art teacher—garnered at local shows. Ben followed his sister’s example, winning many of the same local competitions she had won. From high school, Ben entered the Ringling School of Art and Design and received his BFA with a major in Illustration. Before he died of cancer, Ben’s father extracted a promise from him to continue to paint, to follow his dream to making a living as an artist and never give up that dream. Ben has kept his promise to his father. His many landscapes, portraits, illustrations, nudes and, most recently, his Bayou impressions now hang in galleries, wineries, restaurants and private collections across the country.

You are invited to meet Ben Purvis and view his works at Southern Breeze Gallery in Renaissance on Thursday, Sept. 16, 5:00 pm-8:00 pm. Don’t miss a Ridgeland evening of culture, food and friends. Browse all the Ridgeland Galleries, enjoy Vintage Wines at Southern Breeze, and complete the Ridgeland-Rendezvous evening with dinner at one of Ridgeland’s fine restaurants.

Southern Breeze Gallery is open Monday through Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 1-5 pm.  For more information call 601-607-4147 or visit the web site at www.southernbreeze.net.
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