From “T. Allen Lawson: Nuances of White in Oil” in The Artist’s Magazine

[Excerpt]  “Though my work is representational, I always think in abstract terms when I’m designing a composition — not only to find a balance between the dark and light values, but also to find a balance of color temperatures. Though the snow may appear white, it’s rarely, if ever, a pure or absolute white. There are always subtle differences between the colors. Flake white is warmer than zinc white, and titanium white is slightly cooler than zinc white. And because of snow’s reflectivity, white has even more nuances: cool white, gray white, warm white, blue white, and so on. The infinite subtleties of snow are what make it so appealing to paint. Those same subtleties are what make it difficult to paint convincingly.”

From “Tim Lawson: Of Bark and Barns” by Carl Little in  Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors

“Lawson became fascinated with bark some years ago while feeding the studio woodstove. Pieces of bark from the stove wood broke off in his hands. He began hanging sticks of firewood on a wall and using them as subjects for paintings.”     Read the full article here

From “T. Allen Lawson: Growth Rings” in  American Art Collector

“Once Lawson started painting the bark, a whole new style of painting was opened up to him as he began experimenting with new techniques and ways to create, on canvas, the texture he found in the bark.”     Read the full article here

Calendar listing in The New York Times

From “Today’s Artists: T. Allen Lawson” by Robin Capon in Leisure Painter

“Well known for his sensitive and evocative landscape paintings, the American artist, T. Allen Lawson, works with a strong sense of design, an acknowledgment of the importance of drawing, and an appreciation of the traditions of earlier artists.  ‘My subject matter is inspired by my immediate surroundings,’ he explains.  ‘But I have been influenced by many of the Masters, including the compositions of Degas and Andrew Wyeth, for example, the landscapes of Gustav Klimt, and the technical craft of painters such as Vermeer, Velasquez, Memling and Durer.’” Read the full article here

From “The Month of Expectation” By Suzette McAvoy in  Maine Home & Design

“A consummate landscape painter, T. Allen Lawson’s work is distinguished by a lyrical quietude and a deep respect for the art of the past. His work has garnered him national praise and attention, including his selection as the artist for the 2008 White House Christmas card. While his art has taken him throughout this country and across three continents, he continues to find inspiration close to his Rockport home.”   Read the full article here

From ‘The Artist who Created the White House Christmas Card’ by Todd Wilkinson

“Tim Allen Lawson stood alone on the second-floor terrace, waiting for dusk to bathe the nation’s capital city in soft light. Down from Maine for the day, he hurriedly sketched the landscape before him with a 3B graphite pencil, distilling its essence so he could use it as research for an oil painting he would do later in his studio.”   Read the full article here

From “Return to Home Ground” by Todd Wilkinson in Western Art & Architecture

“He is a picture maker who is well beyond the ordinary,” says Peter Hassrick, art historian and director of the Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum. “Lawson is such a designer. Some have compared him to W. Herbert Dunton [1878-1936] during the Art Deco period. Lawson can distill the freshness of a scene and yet find the designs that are compelling. That combination is what makes his work special.”   Read the full article here

From “T. Allen Lawson: On Home Ground” in Western Art Collector magazine

“’My subconscious is accustomed to the great Rocky Mountain states and the expanse of it. When you live in a place, you don’t always fully appreciate the essence of it until you leave. Then you really start to desire and pine for the West in a new sense,’ says Lawson.”

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From “T. Allen Lawson: Seeing Things in Context” by M. Stephen Doherty in American Artist Workshop

“Among the challenges T. Allen Lawson posted for a group of workshop students was to avoid judging values in isolation. ‘You can’t accurately judge how to paint the mass of trees if you don’t juxtapose them with the sky, the distant mountains, the ground plane, and everything else in the composition,’ he explained.    Read the full article here

Copyright American Artist Magazine 2008. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.

From “T. Allen Lawson: Maine, Season by Season” in American Art Collector magazine

“‘I’ve always loved to paint winter,” says Lawson. “Growing up in Wyoming, I found winter to be just such a magical season. The landscape is stripped down and you see the structure of it…”

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From “The Art of Truthful Expression” by Rachel Wolf in Plein Air magazine

“On the wall of T. Allen Lawson’s studio hangs a quotation in the artist’s own handwriting, copied while reading Willa Cather’s Song of the Lark. It says, ‘Artistic growth is, more than anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness.’  The search for authentic expression drives this much-honored painter. Lawson grew up in Wyoming with  a love for drawing and painting. He found encouragement from an eighth-grade art teacher, who gave him his first exhibition in the 1970s.”

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From “Subtle Beauties” by Peggy Arenz in American Artist magazine.

“‘It’s difficult to surpass nature in her beauty or design,’ says artist T. Allen Lawson. But after working outdoors on location for many years, he became interested in developing images that require more time than plein air painting allows.  ‘If you look at original work of some of the great painters,’ he says, ‘you can see that there are  more exciting than the subject matter.’”

Read the full article here

Copyright American Artist Magazine 2001. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted.