John Lawrence
John was born in Red Deer, Alberta and raised on a ranch at Pine Lake. After attending law school he joined the oil industry where he worked for 35 years. Now retired, John is primarily occupied with outdoor oil painting which he began in the 1960′s with the Calgary sketch club, led by such noted landscape artists of the time as Matt Lindstrom, Ernie Lamm, Roland Gissing and Alex Garner. While having some formal training from Illingsworth Kerr, Betty McDonald, Norman Brown and the noted American artist Joe Abrescia, among others, John is primarily a self-taught artist. He enjoys the challenge of trying to capture, in a free and fresh style, the feeling of the grandeur and beauty of our western-Canadian landscapes, particularly in the Foothills and Rocky Mountains of Southern Alberta.