"In the Steps of my Father" - 6th Jun 2013

A Kiwi family that hailed from Scotland:

My late father, Tom Esplin, was a very successful painter in oils, and he painted in a distinctive impasto style using a spatula to apply the paint to the painting surface. The result was colourful and vibrant, and the texture gave his paintings an almost three dimensional quality.
Apart from my sister Dot who was born in Dunedin, all of our family was born in Scotland, and we came to New Zealand to settle in 1954.

Extensive World travels chronicled in the "Esplin" book:

Dad and Mum travelled extensively Worldwide, Dad with his camera took many photographs wherever they went in order to use them as painting subjects when he returned home. My mother wrote detailed diary notes, and the combination of paintings and writings formed the basis of the book "Esplin" that my brother Clark and I published in 2007 and that has now sold over 3,000 copies.

The travel bug was contagious:

I inherited the travel bug from my nomadic parents, and have visited many of the countries and destinations that they did during their sixty years of marriage.
After returning home, I also painted the landmarks and landscapes I had seen, taking photographs in the same way as my Dad, and painting watercolours on my return home. It occurred to me recently to mount an exhibition with the title, "In The Steps Of My Father" featuring my paintings of the places and countries both my parents and I have visited over the years.

The Green Island Gallery hosts "In The Steps Of My Father" exhibition:

In partnership with Genny Hanning of the Green Island Gallery, this ambition will come to fruition with an exhibition opening on Friday, 14 June 2013 at the gallery in Main South Road, Green Island, and running to Thursday 11 July.

About the book published to mark the occasion:

To mark the occasion, I have published a book of my paintings of the places I have travelled to throughout the world, and I have included text that outlines the stories around many of the works.
Not surprisingly the book is entitled "In The Steps Of My Father" and will be available for purchase at $50 for the duration of the exhibition. For those of you who would like the book, but are unable to attend the exhibition, I am happy to mail copies to you if you add $10 postage and packaging to the price. The book has a hard cover, and features 75 paintings and drawings of locations in 17 countries over 20 pages, and it measures 215mm x 295mm. Email me at ron@ronesplin.co.nz with your postal address and deposit payment to BNZ a/c "For Brian Snell Limited" 020912 0027054 00.

Click on the link to access the website page for illustrations.
"In the Steps of my Father"