What's To Like About Michael Parkes

Yesterday, I introduced you to Michael Parkes. (Go HERE to find his website.)

Michael is not an artist you'd normally find on the circuit of painting blogs; he's not a plein air artist nor does he have spiffy new ideas about how to do one thing or another.  Rather he's an artist that found his voice many years ago and just happened to find a following, not because he was catering to one school or another, nor that he was courting the New York critics or the painting contests (often self-appointed designators of today's best artists).  He was simply responding.

I discovered Micheal's work when our friend, Richard, happened upon his lithographs and began to collect them.  Richard was excited about Parkes' imagery and the techniques he used to translate those images into an accessible language.  Howard and I got enthusiastic about this artist because we recognized a thread from one work to another, a consistent theme and the telling a story about the journey this artist is taking.

When Richard's life was cut short by cancer, he left us four of his Michael Parkes books, each a collection of images of Michael's work, lithographs and paintings.  There's a wisdom reflected in these, a wisdom I can't ignor:  an artist who uses images that speak directly from his or her soul is an artist whose work is unquestionably art.

Have a happy Monday.
Dianne