Laurence P. (Lonny) Sisson, 87, died at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 7, 2015.

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1928. He was an artist who pursued a professional career spanning 72 years, renowned from Boston to Maine. 

His landscapes and seascapes were inspired by the scenic coastline of Boothbay Harbor, where Sisson grew up.

Admired for his depictions of coastal shores, opalescent pebbles and crashing waves, Sisson was a Master watercolorist and oil painter, expanding to the Desert Southwest in 1979 with his relocation to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

He served in the U.S. Army post World War II.

Sisson is included in the permanent collections of 18 American museums, including: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, New Britain Museum, Portland Museum, Worcester Museum, Cincinnati Museum, Albuquerque Museum, Berkshire Museum, The Farnsworth Art Museum and Columbia Museum of Fine Arts.

Sisson was already an accomplished artist by age 20 and collected in New England, specifically Boston and Maine. By 1951 Forbes Magazine, Fortune, selected one of his paintings for their March, 1951 cover.

At the 1964 World's Fair, Sisson did a public demonstration for RCA in their Pavilion, where they introduced their new color television to the world. That was his only public demonstration for 51 years, until Feb. 20, 2015, when he demonstrated watercolor painting for the Fine Arts Painting Club at their new Quail Creek Fine Arts Center in Tucson, Arizona.

In 2012, the Santa Fe Rotary Club honored Sisson with the 2012 Artist of the Year Award and the Rotarian International Award For Fine Art. Sisson became the first living artist to exhibit at the Vose Gallery in Boston, America's oldest art gallery and the leader in Americana paintings from the 18th and 19th century.

Sisson has produced more than 50 one-man exhibitions and has been the focus of more than 20 magazine articles. His work is reviewed and discussed in a dozen book publications, including the new “Tales of an Art Dealer, The History of Vose Galleries Boston, Robert C. Vose Jr.; where he is also pictured.

He is survived by his wife Judy Sisson; son Mark Sisson, daughter-in-law Carrie, grandson Kyle, sister Devyn of Malibu, California; daughter Kerry (Kirtana) of Felton, California; son David of Palo Alto, California; and son Derek Phoenix of Melbourne, Florida. He is also survived by his brother, Foster Sisson, and his wife Rosalia of Boonville, Missouri; his sister, Dr. Ruth Sisson of Thomasville, Georgia; and cousin, Robert Freeman of Austin, Texas.

Special thanks to Dana Shock of Hospice of New Mexico and longtime friend and doctor, Dr. Mark Unverzagt. Memorial donations may be made to New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranches, P.O. Box 9, Belen, NM 87002-009. As per his request, there will be no services and his ashes will be scattered across the landscapes that he painted for over 80 years.