The Sydney Laurence project: Learn to paint

This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. The Sydney Laurence project is an interpretation of Sydney Laurence's paintings of Alaska and the northwest. I've decided to interpret his works, not copy them, as a way to improve my landscape painting. Along the way I will discuss the process, post pictures of the progress and show video instruction. Learn to paint with me. Anyone can paint.

Sydney Laurence (1865 to 1940) was the first classically trained artist in Alaska. His grand style is often described as similar to Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran. It differs from those painters in that the subject matter truly is grand and not wildly exaggerated.

I have chosen Sydney Laurence because as a geologist I spent years in the Alaskan bush. Alaska is bigger than life and I paint it that way.

Paul Gauguin exhibit

I went to the Paul Gauguin exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The exhibit was limited but well worth seeing. Several of Gauguin's contemporaries were also displayed. It is interesting to me that Van Gogh cut off part of his ear after a big argument with Gauguin about the perfect impressionist style. He cut his ear off over a disagreement about the type of brush strokes one should use!

It was puzzling to see impressionist art displayed in frames form pre-impressionist periods. Funny how we worry about some details and forget the others.

If you are able to see the exhibit it is worth your time.

This 4' x 2.5' oil painting of Mt. McKinley has been a work in progress for almost a year. The massive foreground has been a problem - a balance between the desire to meet reality with composition. In the end I think composition will defeat reality and the forest will grow in the foreground!

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This 4' x 2.5' painting of Mt. McKinley has been a work in progress for almost a year. The massive foreground has been a problem - a balance between the desire to meet reality with composition. In the end I think composition will defeat reality and the forest will grow in the foreground!