Kris Parins's Page

I am not what you’d call a digital artist. My watercolors are created the old-fashioned way: one painting at a time, using good brushes, 100% cotton paper, and paints from a tube.

The difference between a traditional painter and this graphic designer-turned-fine artist is in the process I employ. While many artists use their digital cameras to capture images for inspiration and reference, I take those images several steps further.

I like to take my original photograph and play with it in Adobe Photoshop, a software program. By cropping the image, changing the color, saturation, and texture, I find I become more involved with the image. The result is a reference that is more abstract, personal, and somehow more powerful than the original photo.

But that is only the beginning of my involvement with technology as part of my creative process. While a painting is in progress, I will often photograph it and view it on the screen of my MacBook Pro laptop. Seeing my painting on the screen gives me a fresh eye so I can be more objective about what the painting needs. At this point I may experiment with the unfinished painting on the computer, trying different options for their effect. Watercolor is not a very forgiving medium, so using the computer at this stage helps me to choose the best direction before committing it to paper.

Despite all the control that my process provides, I enjoy getting in “the zone” while I am actually painting, and make many of my choices intuitively. I feel that my preliminary planning sets my mind free to react to and enjoy the inevitable surprises that occur when working with watercolor.

My subject matter is usually inspired by travel or the forested landscape of northern Wisconsin where I live in the summer. A common theme in my work is the pattern created by strong sunlight. The high contrast and flat areas of color are influences from my graphic design background. I’ve always been drawn to the look of silk-screens and woodcuts, especially the WPA posters from the 1930s.

Once a painting is completed, I will use my desktop scanner or digital camera to record the final version. Having a digital archive of my work has been invaluable for entering juried exhibits, making limited edition prints, and updating this website.

As a watercolor teacher, my instruction is primarily tradition-based, but I do love to demonstrate what is possible when technology is part of the process. It has been very rewarding for me to see the students progress when they have such powerful tools at their fingertips.