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"Golden Evening"
Ronald Parker, "Golden Evening," 2013, oil on canvas, 18” x 36”.
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"Rocky Mountain Afterglow"
Ronald Parker, "Rocky Mountain Afterglow," 2013, oil on canvas, 18” x 36.
RON PARKER
By Maureen Latta
The accomplished realism of Ron Parker’s recent western landscapes is all the more impressive considering he started using oil paints only last year.
Parker was already a successful artist when he joined his daughter at her oil painting class. “I thought, hey, this is wonderful stuff,” he says. “Why didn’t I use this before?” Mixing and blending directly on the canvas was a revelation. “The oil paints allow me the facility to paint absolutely anything. I can go across the painting with one coat and then come back and highlight the painting with a second coat.”
The Victoria-based artist makes it sound easy, but he has worked hard since he began producing watercolour vignettes of birds 35 years ago in the style of the late Fenwick Lansdowne, a Canadian wildlife artist. Parker, who is self-taught, took advantage of architectural rendering skills he had learned as a student at the University of British Columbia, and eventually established himself as a wildlife artist. He was successful enough that the Royal Canadian Mint commissioned him to create a set of collector coins depicting the sea otter.
Later, Parker moved on to acrylic landscapes that used a style focused on basic forms and rhythms. His newest work returns to a refined photorealist style. He credits his photographs – which he shoots in early morning and late evening – for his skilful handling of light.
Parker is represented by Webster Galleries in Calgary and three B.C. galleries: Avenue Gallery in Victoria, the Plaza Galleries in Whistler, and the Peninsula Gallery in Sidney. His work is priced at $2,000 to $10,000.