Nola Parker
Montpelier, VT
Website
www.nolaparker.com
Social Media
Instagram
How would you describe your work?
I make colorful, fantastical landscapes inspired by my surroundings. My work can be quite abstract but I still feel deeply connected to the tradition of landscape painting and the relationship you develop with a place when you make a painting of it.
What inspires you?
I'm inspired by my daily life and the natural world around me. Even when I lived in a big city, my main interest was always the green spaces and how they existed amid the human made objects. I think what I often try to capture in my paintings is the feeling of connectedness with nature, a sense of communion that comes from seeing a bit of yourself in the wilderness and the understanding that deep down you are also a wild thing. I'm often drawn to specific plants or trees that have a lot of personality or mood to them, especially if they seem a bit silly - I feel a lot of affinity with those types of flora. Another major inspiration for me is mythology and nature-based folklore, where the land and the plants are really alive and powerful. I've always loved sci-fi and fantasy and am fascinated by the imaginative worlds and fantastical landscapes you find in those genres.
Can you speak about your process?
My process starts with my collection of photographs. I take a lot of photos for reference and even though I often depart significantly from the ones I use, they're a good anchoring point for me. Most of my photographs are of central Vermont where I live. In the past I've worked directly from one image and am now exploring a new way of working by combining images to create imagined landscapes. I use Guerra paint and make an acrylic gouache using their pigments and binder. I always loved the flat, matte quality of gouache but using Guerra allows me a lot more freedom and color tends to lead my painting process so their huge selection of pigments is amazing. I'm definitely an exploratory and playful painter - I start out loose and curious when I work and let the painting reveal itself, following up on the little surprises that happen along the way.
How did you become interested in art?
My first creative love was writing and books (which I still love). I started painting more seriously while I was in college getting an English degree because all the reading and writing I was doing was making me a bit crazy. I got so burnt out on language that it felt really refreshing and freeing to create visually. I had always loved to paint and draw when I was a kid but being an artist always seemed like this totally unattainable thing. My mom had gone to art school and was a photographer who changed gears and went to nursing school when she had kids. Even though my family was pretty artsy in our consumption - especially film and books - there wasn't a lot of creating going on around me and somehow it was planted in my subconscious that making art was not a viable life choice for me. Of course, as soon as I started painting again in my 20s that all changed. I had some artist friends at the time too and just being around them and their work and seeing their creative practice really awakened me to the possibility that I could be a painter.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
I'm deep into motherhood and newly postpartum so I am really loving the work of Loie Hollowell, Madeline Donahue, and Clarity Haynes. One of my favorite painters working today is Larry Madrigal. More and more I keep coming back to Charles Burchfield, especially in the winter. I love to read and often spend a lot of time in the studio listening to audiobooks. Some favorite fiction from the past few years: The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, Piranesi by Susannah Clarke, Circe by Madeline Miller, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Some recent non-fiction favorites: How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith, Sure I'll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford, Leg by Greg Marshall, The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Most of the movies I've been watching recently are kids movies, which is fine because thankfully my children love Hayoa Miyazaki as much as I do. Favorite quotes: I recently saw an Anne Carson interview and her advice to writers was "start in the middle" - great advice I think for any creative work.
What advice do you have for younger artists?
This is a tough one because I still feel like a "younger artist" and probably still will when I'm an old lady. I guess I would just say, if you find yourself at a point where you're totally lost, incredibly self-critical, and can't stand to look at your own work, take solace in the fact that every artist feels this way at some point, take a walk outside, and then keep working.
