Shirley A. Parish

The Crane
4'4"Wx6'H
2015

Shirley A. Dombrowski/Parish B. January 29, 1947, Detroit, Mi

Discovery of the Impressionists and Expressionists was the beginning of a lifetime of painting. Seeing the work of Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Gustave Renoir and the entire history of their time and the familiarity of the work in relationship to myself made my imagination soar. They set me free to paint.

I received a degree in Art Education in 1969 and began teaching immediately. I was able to paint, and further my art education receiving an M.A. in Painting. I studied with Tom Parish, now my husband.

My paintings exude the feeling of the air around me. Familiar images such as trees and clouds enthralled the chemistry in my surroundings. As with the impressionist and expressionist, I can feel the lights and emotion through my paint and brush movements, highly charged brushwork.

After several summers vacationing on Beaver Island in the middle of northern Lake Michigan island in the work became a series of Expressionist Landscapes. The painting of the sky began after many years of studying landscaped. The beauty and endless motif resonated in the making of the new work. The recent paintings were created through my awareness of the movement in the sky. When in Venice, Italy my images come from the sea, and it's the involvement with the sky. Discovering that, of course, the landscape atmosphere creates the patterns. Once in the studio the vision mixes with thoughts and feeling of my daily influences. Emotions move quickly as well as skies. I try to capture light and breeze. I am aware of the constant shifting of the things I am looking at, shifting of light reflection of the sky, the sunset, water. The light is forever changing. These paintings are perceptions of experience, a visual poetry.

After studying birds for two years, I decided to give a new twist to the sky. Creating the paintings has been a great adventure. You can see my new birds in this years "Birds of My Mind." These works of large birds captures feeling that can only arise through the painting of birds. The consciousness of the bird has empowered my creativity, gathering information through the inner-self, manifested through conscious and subconscious intelligence