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Ralph Parker, Gouache painter comes home to Houston
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Ralph Parker paints peaceful, serene images of the rural landscape. Working exclusively in gouache, and using a painting technique developed over more than two years, he produces works that resemble small oil paintings.
A quiet stream edged with sunlit grasses… old structures with rusty roofs and missing boards, struggling to stand against the inevitable forces of time and weather… nature left untended… trees surviving in dry, rocky ground… a shape, a shadow, a patch of light, a touch of color… these are the images he seeks out and strives to preserve.
His greatest pleasure lies in creating an image that instills in viewers a desire to step into the scene, to explore, perhaps to rest awhile as they reach into their memory for places and times in their own past.
Gouache, also called opaque watercolor, is heavier than traditional transparent watercolors. Its use dates back some 800 years, and was used originally to illuminate manuscripts. 19th Century European painters used it as an outdoor sketching medium, and it was used extensively during the “golden age” of magazine illustration because of its fast drying characteristics.
Parker received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Houston in 1972, and worked for many years as a draftsman in the oil industry, a freelance architectural illustrator for architects, developers and graphics firms, and produced illustrations and marketing materials in the automotive armor industry. For most of his adult life, his fine art was an extension of his work experience, consisting of detailed, highly rendered drawings in pen and ink and graphite and colored pencil. In 2007, he put down the pencils and turned to brushes and paint, choosing the landscape as his subject.
Now in his sixties, he has embarked on a fascinating journey, exploring new techniques in a very old medium.
Although Ralph lives in McKinney, TX, just north of Dallas, he travels to Houston in order to participate in the First Saturday Arts Market in the Heights. He feels like he is part of the Houston artist community since he was born in Houston and loves coming here and being close to his roots.
You can see Ralph on December 5, 2009 at the First Saturday Arts Market on 19th St. or visit him online at Boundless Gallery.
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