Colors & Collards spells success

Colors & Collards spells success

By Deborah Wheeler

debbie_wheeler@link.freedom.com

John J. Parson's first one-man showing of his artwork was a huge success, if numbers are the judge.

The March 21 show of Colors & Collards was held at Perennials & Natives by a Girl named Toni in Grayton Beach. Instead of being a detraction, holding the art show at the off-the-beaten-path nursery, appears to have been a draw with approximately 200 people from all over Walton County, Panama City and Mobile showing up.

"It was a win-win situation for both of us," he said. "It was a good venue for my first show and an opportunity for Toni to show off her new location."

Parson said Toni is a friend he has known ever since moving to the area.

With 17 of his friends working the event, making name tags, helping with parking, supplying food, serving and clean up, one would never know the show was his first.

"I didn't even know I had 17 friends," Parson joked.

Guests were able to enjoy the 120 pieces of artwork as they meandered throughout the landscaped garden and house. Most stood in awe of the diversity, depth and imagination the work portrayed. By the end of the evening, 30 pieces had sold, with several more reserved.

Parson has lived and worked as an architect in Walton County since 1995.

"I had a client here and came down, liked it and stayed," he said.

He has worked on projects such as the Villas at Gulf Place and he designed Mystic Porte shopping center.

He also worked on the renovation of the DeFuniak Hotel and has been involved in the renovation of other houses on the Circle in DeFuniak Springs.

"DeFuniak Springs inspires me," he said. He owns a second home there and 90 of his guests were from DeFuniak Springs.

Parson calls his artwork his "hobby" even though he has been painting all his life.

"It just kept getting bigger," he said with a laugh.

After venturing to enter some pieces at the Walton County Fair and winning a Best in Show, as well as first and second place in 2006 and 2007, he was encouraged and began to pull together his one-man show.

"A lot of friends didn't know I painted," he said.

However, the architect/artist has been painting most of his life, beginning with Paint by Numbers, he said with a laugh.

Working as an architect since 1978, he says both venues of creativity have their advantages and he enjoys both.

"If you look at my work, whether art or architectural style, you will see that both have a varied artistic form," he said.

The majority of Parson's work is in acrylics, but he also has watercolors, pen and ink, collage, acrylics on burlap. He prefers acrylic washes that give a little watercolor feel with the intrinsic color intensity that pops off the wall.

"I paint things that are fragments, never giving the whole picture, that has intensity," he said. "I use color and shape to make people smile."

Parson's subject matter covers the gamut of life. While enjoying being able to use the stronger colors in capturing fruits and vegetables, he also has captured popular local landscapes on canvas and done portraiture.

On display was Parson's recreation an old picture taken of himself and his siblings when they were kids on vacation at the beach. And greeting guests at the entrance gate to the show was a portrait he titled "Party Girl." It was his mother.

"I took care of her the last 10 years of her life. I painted the portrait from an old black and white taken of her before I was born. During her last years, she fell in love with red, so I painted it in the bright shades she came to love." 

"I don't know where I'm going with this," said the artist of his artwork. "It's a growth experience, a way of expressing who I am now."

Toni's nursery and local farmer's market is located at 114 Arbor Road, behind Sherwin Williams paints.

For more information, call (850) 231-0007 or (850) 267-1210.