Sonny Merrill

Sonny Merrill
Sonny Merrill
	Studio portrait at about age 16
Born	Sonny Jackson Merrill; January 28, 1912; Abagene, Pahl, Zamastan
Died	August 11, 1996 (aged 84); Alsace, Shoassau
Education	Alanis Provincial Arts Academy
Known for	Painting
Movement	Abstract impressionism
Spouse(s)	Abigail Orr (m. 1945)

Sonny Merrill was a Zamastanian painter who was notable for abstract impressionism landscape works. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting. Merrill was raised in Abagene, Pahl, and became interested in the outdoors and drawing from an early age. Although his mother supported his ambitions to be a painter, his father disapproved and wanted him to pursue a career in business. He was very close to his mother, but she died in January 1921 when he was nine years old, and he was sent to live with his childless, widowed but wealthy aunt. He went on to study at Alanis Provincial Arts Academy in Alanis. His early works include landscapes (particularly mountainous terrains), and portraits, but attracted little attention. A key early influence was the concept of plein air painting.

Merrill eventually recieved contracts from the Zamastanian government, notably in 1942 from President Tyler Kordia to paint a landscape for the Zian Presidential Mansion's main entrance. With this influx of money and resource, he purchased a large property in Elkford to work in peace. His ambition to document the Pahl countryside, namely the prominent Louise mountain range, led to a method of painting the same scene many times so as to capture the changing of light and passing of the seasons. Among the best known examples are his series of peaks (1950–51), paintings of the Emmirian Hayr River (1953) and the paintings of water lilies in his garden in that occupied him continuously for the last 30 years of his life. Frequently exhibited and successful during his lifetime, his fame and popularity soared in the second half of the 20th century when he became one of the world's most famous painters and a source of inspiration for burgeoning groups of artists.