{"id":60068,"date":"2023-04-20T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/?p=60068"},"modified":"2023-05-08T11:04:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T15:04:24","slug":"island-icon-roland-richardson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/cruising-and-chartering\/island-icon-roland-richardson\/","title":{"rendered":"Roland Richardson: Father of Caribbean Impressionism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Roland <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Richardson\u2019s paintings have been displayed in France, the Netherlands, the Middle East, Russia, the United States and more. <\/span>\n Laura Richardson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

One glimpse of Roland Richardson\u2019s plein-air paintings, and it\u2019s clear why he\u2019s known as the \u201cfather of Caribbean impressionism.\u201d Just as Claude Monet memorialized haystacks and water lilies, the St. Martin native captures his home island\u2019s fiery flamboyants (the national tree) and the soothing, surrounding turquoise seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he launched his career on St. Martin in 1970 after studying art abroad, \u201cno one else was addressing the people, the landscapes, the seas, the colors,\u201d Richardson says. \u201cI had an unlimited pure subject wherever I turned. I didn\u2019t need to fabricate anything. I only needed to devote myself to observing with the intention of learning from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With family roots on St. Martin that stretch back three centuries, Richardson has endeavored to preserve the island\u2019s beauty and culture. He spearheaded the restoration of Fort Louis, overlooking Marigot Harbor, and documented the island\u2019s history and architecture as the founding editor of Discover St. Martin-St. Maarten magazine. But it\u2019s his artistic creations\u2014be they in oil, watercolor or ink\u2014that most resonate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitors can find not only a gallery of his work at La Samanna Resort but also, sometimes, Richardson himself. He frequently hosts painting demonstrations where he philosophizes on light and color, and creates another of his signature scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes St. Martin such an ideal outdoor studio? We\u2019re in a region that, to a great degree, is still unpolluted. The light is pure, and the color is living and vivid and intense and joyous.  What are the challenges of painting en plein air? Engineering is one of the deep secrets of plein-air painting. You can\u2019t pick up your brush and make that first stroke until you\u2019ve solved how to set up and stabilize your canvas. That\u2019s why most plein-air paintings are tiny; the size doesn\u2019t pose a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendations for St. Martin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019auberge Gourmande (Grand Case):<\/strong> We\u2019ve known the owner, Pascal, for 30 years. He is a talented, award-winning restaurateur, and his team is amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mezza Luna (Nettle Bay): <\/strong>They have the most wonderful pizza and fresh, quality Italian dishes. It\u2019s great value for the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lolos (Grand Case):<\/strong> These four restaurants are right on the water and have fresh fish, as well as ribs and chicken. The fresh snapper is my favorite. It\u2019s a great local experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Martin\u2019s Roland Richardson captures the island\u2019s beauty in his plein-air paintings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Kristen Baird Rattini","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"156","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Known as the father of Caribbean impressionism, Roland Richardson illustrates the beauty of St. Martin with his paintings.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true},"categories":[156],"tags":[193,218,2068,396,2091],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}