The artist and great outdoorsman, Laurence Brown, grew up in the hills and lakes of Scotland
where he learned that beauty could be captured with paint, pencil or any other expressive medium. He was a lover of beauty and this spilled over into his professional life.
Brown graduated from university with an Engineering degree. He immigrated to Canada where he obtained a position with United Aircraft of Canada. He wrote many papers regarding design and production of aircraft engines. He realized that the future was in integrating production machinery and computers. An example is a paper he wrote in 1969 and published in the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal entitled The Changing Face of Production — The Use of Numerical Control in Manufacturing.
Laurie, as he was known to his friends, took a management position with Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company in Longueil, Quebec. He won many awards for his designs that were continual innovations for modern aircraft engines. Laurie remained an employee of Pratt and Whitney until his retirement.
Laurie and his wife, Joan, lived in St. Bruno just south of Montreal and enjoyed the atmosphere of the small village, close to golf and skiing, which he loved.
Laurie was an avid sailor, fisherman, and hiker. His connection with the Quebec countryside inspired many of the landscapes he painted in the Laurentians and the Eastern Townships. At his retirement and influenced by long time friend and well-known artist, Bob McGowan, Laurie attended art school at Champlain College in St. Lambert, Quebec. There, he achieved the excellence and unique style we see in his later paintings.
Laurie’s passion for the distinct magnificence of the Grey Bruce Peninsula meant that he also painted extensively in this area. He visited regularly on painting trips and considered it his second home. His paintings of land and waterscapes show an artist of special vision…
Laurie experimented in other media such as acrylics, silk screening, and watercolour. His love, however, was painting with vibrant oil colours. Laurie Brown’s style was unique. His passion for painting lasted all his life and was a superb outlet for his talents.
As an art conservationist, artist, and lover of art in all its forms, I have recently had the pleasure of cleaning and varnishing a large number of Laurie Brown’s body of work, which he carried out in obscurity.
I find it hard to understand that he had not been recognized in his own time. I find his rapid, free form quality of composition and his warm, vibrant colours, exciting and they were extremely pleasurable to restore. Having personally spent a great deal of time in the Eastern Townships, Laurentians, and along the St. Lawrence River and other parts of Quebec, I could relate to the quiet loneliness he captured in his images. Engineers are usually tight, precise and analytical. It seems that Laurie let that go once he was alone with his canvas and brushes somewhere in the wilderness.
“Laurie, having had the pleasure of working on your pieces, I hope your recognition comes now. I somehow feel that I have grown to know you through your work and I feel that you might find pleasure in being known this way”
— Michael Anderson
