Lawrence Stapleton was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1951.  His Irish background led to his Catholic upbringing which led to his parochial education that led to his introduction to art at the Toledo Art Museum, his first tour in the autumn of 1957.   While the museum was yet to hang the works of Chagall, Dali, Klee, Picasso and others it was well respected for its antiquities and collections of Dutch Masters, Flemish Landscapes and lesser known Italian Romantics.

     His family moved to Southern California in 1962.  It was a significant change in his life.  His new museum was Los Angeles County, where they hung all the modern masters of impressionism and the new artists of the twentieth century.  By this time he was painting. He had done murals in the family home as well as a ceiling at their neighbor’s.  He developed interest in wood carving and sculpture, furniture design and construction.  He had done some metal sculptures, and at twenty sold his first paintings.  He graduated from California Polytechnic University in 1974, and shortly after went to Europe until the “money ran out”.  Upon his return he moved to Nevada City in the foothills of Northern California where he resided for thirty years, and in 2006 moved to Whidbey Island, Washington.  

     Mr. Stapleton had lost years when it comes to his art, long stretches with minimum output. There was some furniture designed and sold in the late 70’s, a few paintings in the late 80’s.  He was a starving artist, but a successful residential designer - interiors and exteriors.

     In 1990 he was asked to consult on a residential construction project in Dalian, China.  He accepted, and for the next ten years he was in demand around the world.  He spent over a year and a half in China, months at a time in Japan and the old Soviet Republics - Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, among others.  It was during these wondrous years that he made the commitment to a career change, and in 2005 he began to pursue his art solely and permanently.    

     In his career as an artist his work has only been available in his home studio, he was fortunate to have collectors find him, but now his paintings have come to market with a few gallery shows in the last year, and a broadening of his audience.  He hopes you enjoy and share in the experience.