News : Parr Demostrates Painting at Pourville

Area Artist Brian Parr shares his painting skills with Pourville Art Studio and Gallery visitors

Vinton City Council member but even longer an area artist Brian Parr agreed to demonstrate his painting talents with a group gathered at Vinton's Pourville Art Studio and Gallery. Spending a little over an hour he created two beautiful paintings, talking with those watching. He has no idea how many paintings he's created in his lifetime, but it would be safe to say hundreds. He loves to paint landscapes and said that he will go out in his truck and find a scene to paint, with the evening being his favorite time to paint. Painting outside most of the time he's learned how to paint quickly explaining that in nature, reflections, light, shadows all of those things change fast.

Bringing along several of his paintings to sell, he donated the proceeds to help the Brennen Still family (if you'd like to help this local family, you can do so by stopping into the iVinton office).

Before beginning to paint he had no idea what he would be painting. Taking a blank canvas and choosing his colors, he began. He explained that he'd probably use the same brush because he hates to clean the brushes, which brought a chuckle. Equipped with his paint, brush, canvas and a bit of paint thinner, he created, two different scenes in a little over an hour. At one point including a paper towel as his "brush".

Painting isn't without its hazards Parr explained. Parr talked about having to change the habit of putting the paintbrush in his mouth because of the lead in the paint, telling of another local artist that died from health problems brought on by the lead that in the paint. Parr has never taken any art classes, other than those required in school, but even then he said with a chuckle that those were too restrictive for him.

"How do you know when it's done?" Dandeena Schadle, owner of Pourville asked Parr, "It's never done, you just have to abandon it."

The technical aspects of painting also came up in the discussion of how he does his work. He explained that if you mix complementary colors, you will get brown. Grabbing a blank canvas he sketched out a color wheel using simple marks on the canvas for demonstration. In art class, you learned to make green by mixing blue and yellow, for purple you mixed red and blue. Parr explained that if you mix red and green which are opposite each other on the color wheel, you will get brown. I suppose this might be something obvious to an artist, but not to anyone shopping in an art gallery. Sharing more of his technics Parr explained that if you simply change brush strokes it will create a different look. As he finished explaining, he then used the same canvas to create his work, incorporating the scratch marks into the work.

Parr explained that he likes to paint with a technique referred to as tonal painting. "Tonal painting is limited color, creating a mood, without careful brush strokes, and right up my alley." Using only four colors as he painted, he mixed the same colors in different amounts to create the masterpieces, creating different moods, lighting, objects and their shadows.

If you get a chance to just observe Parr painting again, do it. You'll be mesmerized as you watch the blank canvas turn into a scene created in the mind of the artist and created for you to see.

Pourville Gallery and Art Studio is the home to several works by area artists. Be sure to stop in and find a treasure to display in your home.