From “Tim Lawson: Of Bark and Barns” in Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine
“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.”
“Poetry is not an element of nature, but a quality of the painter’s mind.”
– Charles Caffin, 1903
Each year at about this time I realize how much I love autumn. The cold nights and evening fires, the cool days and brilliant light, the falling color and the undressing of nature are all to be enjoyed. But I also love that the summer crowds are gone and I, along with my family, settle into a routine. I can get back in the studio and work without interruptions.
This week I started two new paintings and have a head full of ideas of paintings that I want to do. Is each painting not at its most exciting stage when it is just the inspiration, full of all possibilities, safely in one’s mind? By the time the idea reaches the canvas it seems as if the painting goes its own way, rarely the way I intend for it to go, and the struggle begins. But over the years I have come to love the struggle — the wrestling of inspiration and ideas against limitations and shortcomings — more than any part of painting.
May every one of you enjoy autumn as much as I do.
From “T. Allen Lawson: Growth Rings” in American Art Collector magazine
“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.”
It was an exciting summer in and around the Lawson house and the autumn has kept right on pace. The response for the new work in my exhibition, “Growth Rings” at Ten High Street, was even better than I had hoped. October brings the release of my wife’s new book. Tex is Dorie’s third book and her first for children. It is a beautifully photographed story celebrating the imagination of a little boy who lives on the coast, but believes that he is a working cowboy in Wyoming. Though targeted for children ages three to six, its simple, straightforward story, sprinkled with humor, is appealing to all ages.
From “T. Allen Lawson: Seeing Things in Context” by M. Stephen Doherty
“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.
In October 1956 a nearly unknown thirteen year-old boy entered the famed Marshall Chess Club in Lower Manhattan to play the elegantly dressed and fiercely aggressive Donald Byrne, former U.S. Open Champion, in the seventh round of the Rosenwald Memorial invitational tournament. A little over five hours later the unknown boy settled his rook in place and confidently said, “Mate!” From then on the name Bobby Fischer would forever be etched into the annals of chess history.
Bobby, familiar with the style and aggressive play of his opponent through magazines and chess books, decided to attempt an unusual approach known as the Grunfeld Defense, in which he would allow Byrne, playing the white pieces, to take control of the center squares. The brilliance of Bobby’s game came when, on the 18th move, he offered his queen for Byrne to capture. By doing so, however, Bobby was able to take a bishop, and two rooks and place himself in a much stronger position. Byrne’s queen sat at the top of the board unable to move, useless, for the final nine moves.
Having played and won one of the greatest, most stunningly original games in the history of chess, Bobby Fischer launched himself onto the world scene. Chess arbiter, Hans Kmoch immediately declared the match “The Game of the Century.”
I guess it would be safe to say I have had a lifelong love for the game of chess. My father taught me to play when I was about 6 or 7 years old. On weekends I would visit my father while he managed the front office of a motel in Sheridan, Wyoming. When it was slow we would sit in the lobby and play game after game of chess. Chess has been a part of my life ever since. I’ve taught both of my sons to play and they challenge me to many spirited games. During a few of those games I have found myself intrigued with the visual aspect of the spacing of the pieces as they are moved about the board. “Opening Move” and “Mate” capture two crucial moments from the perspective of the players in a particular important game of chess.
Calendar listing in The New York Times
From “Today’s Artists: T. Allen Lawson” by Robin Capon in Leisure Painter magazine
“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.’”
From “The Month of Expectation” By Suzette McAvoy in Maine Home & Design magazine
“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.”
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.”
From “Return to Home Ground” by Todd Wilkinson in Western Art & Architecture magazine
“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.”
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.”
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…”
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.”
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.’”
Dear Workshop Participants:
We’re sorry if it comes as an unpleasant surprise to many of you, but Tim will not be teaching a workshop in 2011.
His commitments are many and his excitement about the work underway is at an all time high. Breaking to teach the fall workshop just won’t work for him this year.
We will keep you updated…