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Obituary: Ron Simpkins

Free-spirited artist well known in West Island

ALAN HUSTAK
The Gazette
Friday, August 8, 2008

Ron Simpkins was a painter, a free and easy spirit known
among West Island art circles as much for his oddball behaviour as
he was for his competent, if derivative, landscapes.

"He believed in UFOs and sometimes I think he might have been one,"
his daughter, Cristina, told about 100 friends and colleagues who
gathered at the Fritz Farm in Baie d'Urfé on Friday for a memorial
service.

"He was an incredible man who flew through life by the seat of his
pants, taught us to live free, and did what he wanted to do. He
didn't give a s--t about what anybody thought of him. He was so
real, such a real person."

Simpkins was found dead, face up on a patch of grass, in Pointe
Claire on June 21, the day after his 66th birthday.

"The first paycheque he ever received on a regular basis was his
federal old age pension," said Ross Lefoley, who tried to go into
the telemarketing business with Simpkins. "If you didn't know him,
you'd think he was a bum. But he was a gentle soul who followed his
passion. He painted every day. It wasn't blood that ran through his
veins, but paint."

Ron Simpkins was born on June 20, 1942, into a family of
illustrators. His father, Henry, was a graphic artist who created
the original Captain Morgan rum label for Seagrams. His uncle James
was a cartoonist who drew Jasper the Bear for Maclean's magazine for
25 years.

Simpkins went to Lachine High School, then spent a year and a half
at the Ontario College of Art before he dropped out. He drifted from
job to job but had his first show at a community centre when he was
17.

During Expo 67, instead of working he spent every day on the fair
site. After the city presented one of his works to Herbert Bowden,
secretary of the British Commonwealth, Simpkins opened a studio in
Valois.

"If he had been a bit more cut-throat and had been able to take
direction and be more focused, he would have been a much more
successful artist than he was," said his agent, Marina Cutler. "He
was an amazing artist who fell into a hole. He was a gem of a guy,
but so naive you wanted to slap him and at the same time nurture and
guide him."

Although a number of his works hang in corporate collections, art
critics complain that his landscapes appear to be undisciplined and
painted on the fly.

"He worked on location, even in winter, that was important to him,"
said Renate Heidersdorf, a Beaconsfield watercolourist, "Most of his
work was done outside. He was a free spirit. He had eclectic ideas.
He was honest and passionate about his work."

Simpkins was known for his pictures of water lilies, but he also
painted and reworked his landscapes in bold colours.

"He was a bohemian who lived out of his van. He'd just pick up and
go. He was always looking for places to paint," said Denise
Desjardins, who went to high school with him in Lachine. "Even when
he was destitute, he seemed to have no problems. He had a timetable
and a calendar of where to be to paint at different times of the
year."

Although his marriage to Anne-Marie Kobiez, a nurse, ended, she
continued to look after him after their divorce.

Simpkins is survived by his two daughters, Vanessa and Cristina.