MIDLAND Prior to this spring, Midland artist Don Parks had never seen his paintings in an exhibition on a scale like this.
The wait paid off for the painter as 28 of his works of art are currently on display at Museum of the Southwest in Midland.
The exhibit, which is called Retrospective: Don L. Parks, features paintings of Texas scenes and is currently on display until May 1. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and free from 2 till 5 p.m. Sunday.
“I never dreamed that I’d be having an exhibit here but (Museum of the Southwest Curator) Matt (Ward) called me and asked if I was interested in having a show here,” Parks said. “It’s been really great to work with the museum and Matt and he’s been so nice. The way we needed to do it was it being kind of a retrospective show. It means I need to drag up some stuff from the past.”
For more than 40 years, Parks has translated the majesty of his natural environment into oil on canvas.
Following a career as an agricultural economist and trust banker, Parks then dedicated himself to recording his environment on canvas.
For 37 years, he has practiced the plein air approach to painting, which is an impressionist mode in which the artist works on location, faithfully capturing the light, tone and character of the landscape.
Ward talked about Parks’ work.
“Don is a very well-known local person here in Midland,” Ward said. “He fell in love with painting by looking at the art history books and studying the works of the great impressionists. From looking at the images, he developed a desire to paint. As you can see from the work on display, his chosen subject is the southwestern landscape, specifically West Texas and specifically the clouds. He’s great at clouds. He owes a lot of his relationships to clouds to growing up on a farm and riding around on a tractor and cloud gazing. I think in his work, you can see that he’s spent a lifetime of observing because his light is very sensitive.”
Parks, along with his wife Minda, grew up in Seymour, a small Texas town located between Abilene and Wichita Falls.
He came from a family of farmers, which allowed him prolonged observations of the southwest landscape.
Parks attended college at Texas Tech University, which is when he started to take up painting.
The retrospective of the plein air painter that is on display explores the southwestern impressionist’s career through several decades of work.
A watercolorist for over a decade, Parks has focused on oils since 1985. Parks, who is a man of faith and family, says God’s creation is his inspiration when going out into the fields to paint.
“I just think that sometimes we get so busy that we don’t get around to thinking about looking at nature and sunsets,” Parks said. “I love to paint out at Big Bend. I’ve had lessons from about seven different professional artists. I had no formal training in college. I must admit, I’m glad I didn’t because I’m not sure how they teach you the fundamentals of how to paint pictures. Realism is typically not taught anymore.”
One person who has taught Parks is an Idahoan artist who was also a college football player at Chadron State (Neb.) Scott Christensen.
“I’ve done an internship under him,” Parks said. “He’s widely known up there. He’s a football player that got injured in college and thought ‘how do I make a living now?’ and he turned out to be one of the best landscape painters in America.”
For some of Parks’ larger paintings, he says it could take up to three weeks to do.
“More likely it varies greatly,” Parks said. “Sometimes, it seems like they paint themselves and some of them you think you’re never going to fix all the problems. The best thing to do is to have three (paintings) going on at once and if you look at a painting over a period of days and look on one painting, you’re going to get in a confused situation where you won’t see the mistakes.”
He’ll also have a mirror behind him while he’s painting and then turn around and see his painting in the reflection, which helps him spot any mistakes he’s made.
“The main thing is to get away from (the paintings) for a few days, maybe a week, and then come back and see some of the things you have to fix,” Parks said.
For Ward, Parks’ paintings convey what it feels like to be out in the landscape.
“The Hudson River School of Artists were a group of Americans in the 19th century that described that feeling as the sublime,” Ward said. “The feeling of when an individual stands in this awesome expanse. When you’re confronted by nature, you realize just how vast creation is. I think Don really conveys that. His paintings are like windows that we can look through into these amazing vistas. Some of us in the region I’m guessing have been to these places before like Big Bend but he really captures the places and the feeling of being in the landscape.”
Museum of the Southwest Executive Director Lorie Wesley talked about the excitement of having Parks’ exhibit on display.
“We’re very excited to be able to celebrate a very accomplished artist in his hometown,” Wesley said. “Sometimes, people have to go away from where they’re from to gain the recognition that they deserve so we’re thrilled to honor Don Parks like this.”
For more information on the exhibit and the Museum of the Southwest, visit tinyurl.com/4kh79hba
