Oyama Looking North, pen and ink on paper

Lawrie Dignan is a Canadian artist who works primarily in pen and ink. He’s also our featured artist today! Lawrie got his start working as a technical draftsman in British Columbia before embarking on his artistic career.

The Beginning, pen and ink on paper

Lawrie's Art Cards Gallery

In much of his work, the artist’s drafting background is quite visible. Though his works are often somewhat abstracted, Lawrie’s attention to detail and use of pointillism with very fine-tipped pens makes for an immersive viewing experience. I really enjoy the way Lawrie stylizes his works – they mainly depict elements of the landscape in British Columbia and on Vancouver Island, yet they have a wonderful kind of storybook aesthetic to them. The artist’s penchant for bright colours and rounded forms really create a fairytale narrative in my imagination.

Lawrie’s choice of subject matter is shared by some of our other artists, who use their work to express the landscape they know best – check out the work of Vicki Beamish, for example. Lawrie’s drawings have a certain mysticism about that – touching on something in the landscape that we can’t quite see. 

October Branches, pen and ink on paper