AN ELDER statesman of the Cumbria arts world will be in the spotlight on bank holiday weekend during a must-see art exhibition.

Bardsea Art Group pays tribute to its founder Ron Stacey during its bi-annual art exhibition which runs from Saturday until Monday, May 27-29, at the Old Schoolroom at Bardsea, near Ulverston.

As a tribute to Ron, now 90 years old and still an active member of the group, the exhibition will include several of his paintings which are privately owned.

Happy using watercolour, oils, pastels or acrylic, Ron is a natural colourist and his work is revered for its loose, almost abstract style, using complementary colours to create stunning, atmospheric effects; pinpoints of light shine through, whether in depicting Morecambe Bay or the beauty of the Lakeland fells.

He says that knowing how to mix colour to achieve effects of light and shade is key in starting a new painting. He adds: "I go straight to work with brush and watercolour, doing a preliminary sketch only if the subject calls for tight treatment. I have always tried to encourage our members to be free in their work, but most of all to enjoy it.”

Due to creaky knees and arthritis, nowadays it’s not as easy for Ron to work en plein air as it used to be and he works mainly from photographs generously supplied by the many local, professional artists fit and young enough to still walk the fells of the Lake District and mountains of the world, many of whom are regular tutors to the Bardsea Art Group.

Professional artist Graham Twyford has been a visiting tutor to the Bardsea Art Group since its early days: “Throughout the years, Ron has provided not only boundless amounts of encouragement to the Bardsea Art Group," explains Graham. "But he is also extremely generous in sharing his own knowledge, equipment and materials. Ron is a real presence in the Furness community of artists and an important figurehead for us all.”

It wasn’t until Ron’s retirement on health grounds in 1988 that he started the Bardsea Art Group, starting with just 12 members. Today more than 40 members attend either the Monday or Tuesday sessions or the life drawing class on Thursday evenings.

Encouraged by his adviser and wife Marie, Ron started art classes initially at Broughton Mills and then at The Malt Kiln in Bardsea. There he met Frederick Glynn-Potter who was head of art at Lancaster University and, as well as being talented in all mediums, was a renowned sculptor. He tutored the group and became one of Ron’s greatest mentors through which Ron developed a fascination for watercolour painting. Other influential watercolour artists tutoring the groups were Eric Gleave and Ulverston artist Doug Hyslop, who encouraged Ron to develop his characteristic ‘loose’ style of painting.

For the last few years of his working life, Ron worked as a power engineer with Bowater Scott before retiring in 1988. The art classes at Broughton Mills and The Malt Kiln had closed so Ron decided he would start his own art group at The Old Schoolroom in Bardsea. The keenness of Ron and his original 12 members attracted Glynn-Potter, Eric Gleave and Doug Hyslop and all agreed to be tutors. Other renowned artists followed including the esteemed pastellist Christopher Assheton-Stones.

As Ron’s confidence in his art progressed, between 1989 and 1995 he achieved several first class awards in the War Pensioner’s Welfare Service Regional National Homecrafts and Art Competitions. In 1990, Ron became artist-in-residence at St Mary’s Hospice in Ulverston offering art therapy to patients for six years and then in 1999 Ron entered Channel 4’s new TV programme Watercolour Challenge landing second place in the regional final.

The exhibition runs from 10am-5pm.