Tim Lord and Alden Mason
/Tim and Alden were pals. Northwest Artist Tim Lord is now selling selected works from his private collection. These include three works from his pal, the celebrated Alden Mason, three paintings from Tim’s “Royal Aquariums of Corvus” series, and one “tramp art” box. Various other small works are also available.
About Tim
I was born in 1958 and like most kids, loved to scribble and draw, and with the encouragement from my parents, I continued to make art. I grew up in the military and while living in Japan at the age of eight I was enrolled in my first oil painting class taught by a Japanese man. Paint on. Paint off. I painted my first three canvasses and the subjects were a dog, a cat and a horse. I've always had a love of animals which is still an important subject matter in my work today. I like to tell stories through my art, and as long as I live, I will continue to paint my fairytale world. I have two lifetimes of images I still want to create.
– Tim Lord
About Alden
I was Alden Mason's wing man for 13 years, doing whatever he needed done, and Alden needed a lot done. I stretched all his canvasses, made stretcher bars, gessoed his canvasses, assisted in framing, wrapping and shipping, build crates, hauled many enormous paintings all over Seattle, worked closely with Greg Kucera, Woodside Braseth and his final gallery, Foster White. I was forever running errands all over town, hauling, hauling, hauling. I rented U-Haul trucks and moved him in and out of six different places, from condos, to houses back to other condos and apartments, and also moved him out of his longstanding studio on lower Queen Anne to his last and final studio in Ballard. Each place needed work to be done, shelves to be built, lights to be hung electrical work, remodeled kitchens, put in floors, painting, gardening stuff, fixing things, hauling, and never ending trips to Ikea, only to come home and put large heavy furniture together that would break apart after every move. Cheap Ikea crap.
Alden was a handful, but I did whatever he wanted, knowing full well my duty, to take as good a care of my old and dear artist friend, for him not to worry about getting stuff done, and was he a worrier. It was a privilege to have had Alden in my life, I was proud to be his right hand man. In exchange for my services, he would give me paintings. These paintings hang in my home and I am so grateful to live amongst his work. I love looking at them every day, a real honor indeed.
– Tim Lord
Alden Mason passed away in 2013.
Alden's Works
Uncle Fred and the Baby Bird
Alden Mason, 1992
Acrylic on Canvas – 80”x70”
Back in 1992, Alden did three large scale paintings of giant heads, in honor of his friend and fellow art student Chuck Close. Chuck Close was having a major art exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum and to show respect, Alden painted these large heads as Chuck did back in the 60’s. Alden would always be over in my studio as I was in his, visiting and talking art. My back door opened out to a fire escape where pigeons would roost, and I would take him to show off the baby pigeons. Alden was a serious bird watcher, traveling the globe in search of rare and exotic birds. Inspired by the baby pigeons, he painted them, dead and alive. The pigeon in the head is dead while the other takes flight. His subject was artist Fred Anderson, long time friend and fellow birdwatcher.
– Tim Lord
Nasty Talk In the Rainbow Tavern
Alden Mason, 1988
Acrylic on Canvas – 40”x36”
Alden and I would both go in to the Rainbow Tavern in the U-District, together but mostly I would go to listen to a lot of great bands and socialize with friends. He was inspired to make that painting based on our love and interest for the Rainbow Tavern, a Seattle iconic dive bar, a venue for good music and good times.
– TL
Leaving For New Guinea
Alden Mason, 1988
Acrylic on Canvas – 60”x70"
The most talked about birdwatching trips were his trips to New Guinea. Stories of his stays in small villages where local tribesman would take him out into the jungles to show off the birds, the only place in the world with the most species of birds, Alden's paradise. On one visit, the men arrived back to the village with arrows embedded in their arms and legs from a dispute from a neighboring tribe. Neither side was out to kill one another, just to inflict enough hostility to get their points across, literally. New Guinea was a revolving story, told many times to many people, and the close 13 years I spent with him, you can only imagine how many times I heard his stories and jokes, from all his adventuress, each time told as if it were his first time telling it. What I would give to hear just one more.
– TL
