PROFILE FEATURE
Lawrence Coulson ‘A Darker Light’ For an artist to have one of the biggest canvasses that you have ever painted (10 ft x 3ft ) standing next to a Warhol that has just been sold for £2.5 million in a warehouse waiting to be transported to a gallery in Shanghai is one of your all-time highs. But for Lawrence Coulson these highs just keep on coming! It started out in a very different way. With just O level Art to his name, Lawrence began work in a local builders’ merchants near his home in Cambridge but beneath the surface, as it turned out, was an embryonic artist of considerable talent waiting to get out! His father, artist Gerald Coulson, famous for his World War II aviation paintings, gave Lawrence a catalogue of pretty Victorian landscapes and told him to practise and see how close he could get! Rekindling a childhood interest when sketches of cars had fuelled the young Lawrence’s ambition to be a car designer of note, Lawrence had soon produced work that was seen to be good enough to sell in the pub where he and his father occasionally drank. Soon he was also selling at Cambridge Gallery and Framer Warwick and Sons and Restaurant 22, where he was to stage
a one-man exhibition. The young artist prepared for the evening with meticulous precision, carefully crafting invitations and compiling a guest list which included Birmingham gallery owner Paul Green who already worked with his father. The businessman made himself known and agreed to purchase work that was still available at the end of the evening. The twelve canvases that he chose sold; soon orders for more came through and they haven’t stopped coming! Now publishers Washington Green with Castle Fine Art have sole access to Lawrence Coulson’s work, who is now considered to be one of the country’s foremost artists. Initially, working as an artist and by that time being the manager of a busy hardware store was taking its toll and so, taking the plunge to forsake BUPA and a company car, in 1997 Lawrence became a professional painter. He set out to start work in his studio at nine in the morning and to put in an eight-hour day, eschewing the whimsical notion of an artist perusing the blooms in the garden with a glass of wine in hand. Instead Lawrence is a focused professional who works hard to perfect his art, seeking inspiration from Turner, Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church as well as the French Impressionists. He admits that one of his favourite DVDs is ‘Turner’ noting that Timothy Spall learnt to paint himself in his masterful portrayal of the artist.
“a focused professional who works hard to perfect his art, seeking inspiration from Turner, Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church as well as the French Impressionists” 18
His canvasses evoke the haunting atmosphere of the fen landscapes near to his home, the dramatic coastline and the seascape of north Norfolk. With rural France and the rugged scenery of Scotland in his sights the world is indeed Lawrence Coulson’s oyster.
His interest is the depiction of light on the canvas, the contract between light and dark and, a Gary Numan fan, the title of his latest collection of works, ‘A Darker Light’, pays homage to the musician while resonating with the focus in his paintings. Enjoying the opportunity to demonstrate his skill while at gallery events, Lawrence is particularly enchanted when those who fall in love with his work often paint themselves into the story. He was especially touched by the story of a buyer who had searched for the perfect picture to capture memories of his wife who had died seven years earlier and who broke down in tears when he identified just the spot in one of the works. With a son, Matthew, who is a photographer with an artistic eye, and a daughter, Olivia, who as a child sold pencil portraits of her friends at school, the dynasty looks assured. Wife Heather works with Lawrence maintaining the website and keeping the business side of things running smoothly. If there is one regret the artist has it is the demise of small galleries which are the lifeblood of the aspiring artist, those galleries to which the young Lawrence took his early paintings. In Deeping we are lucky to have the walls of Black Cab Studio near the Cross in Deeping St James which shows the work of local artists such as Lawrence, and there are still a couple of galleries in nearby Stamford. It can only be hoped that the changing face of retail will embrace our innate need to be in touch with all the senses that has been sadly neglected in the race to consumerism. For more information please visit www.lawrencecoulson.com
