Portrait Gallery II
Portrait Gallery II is a continuation of Portrait Gallery I. Both galleries show some of the many portrait works Brad Parrish has produced over his forty plus years of painting.This is a sampling from his early commissioned works to his international award winning portraits. While all of the subjects Brad paints are important to him, none are more important than his portraits capturing the people he loved, his friends and acquaintances over the many years he has been painting. Brad has incorporated these remarkable people into everything from landscapes works to the very personal, inspirational paintings he has done. As Brad once said "There is nothing more powerful then ourselves. Each and every one of us carries a truly unique story about ourselves inside and out, the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. It is, and always will be, the most powerful and inspirational subject matter I will ever paint. Man was created in Gods image and to paint and capture that image on canvas or in stone is, for me, part of a spiritual journey unmatched in any other subject matter".
Portrait of Di
Painted in 2001 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 16"h x 20"w
About This Piece
This is a good example of how Brad begins a painting. He almost always thins down his brown oil colored paint to a semi transparent consistency (Almost to the point that you would think he was using watercolors). He quickly lays it out which he calls "Blocking it out". What you see above is the finish step in "Blocking it out". It is after this step is completed that brad can begin applying all his colors. If a piece makes it this far and Brad is happy with his layout and can see the completed piece in his mind, he will go ahead and complete it. For Brad, this is the time he can rest, contemplate and change anything he wants to before completing the rest of the painting. Brad is an artist that likes to get a piece done as fast as he can so as to maintain the high levels of inspiration he needs to be excited about a piece. Brad never comes back and work on a piece that he has already started and left unfinished day or months ago because almost always, the thrill is gone and anymore work on an unfinished piece will be for not. However, when a piece is left "Blocked Out" as this one is, he will begin working on it when and if the moment or inspiration comes to him to finish a piece in his normal one to two painting session. When a painting is left in this state for what ever reason, Brad can change or manipulate a piece if there is something he does not like about the composition etc. not so much the case after a lot of paint goes on it, it drys and is not half way finished.
Brad has hung onto this painting because it is something he can come back to if he so decides. He was limited on time when he began this piece of "Di" having to get another painting done for his publisher. But Brad wanted to have this painting laid out, "Blocked Out" so that all he had to do was lay on the paint and use all of his energy in executing and completing the work in one or two sittings and not be bogged down with the needed time it requires to lay the piece out.
Eyes on a Nation
Painted in 1991 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size 19"h x 23"w
Another Day of Freedom
Painted in 1989 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 19"w x 23"h
About This Piece
This original pastel hangs in the base of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It is part of the monuments permanent collection. The painting by the artist was one of the winning pieces selected by the "Arts For The Parks" national competition in 1989. The competition was open to artist across our nation to bring greater awareness of the beauty of our national parks. This piece toured our countries most prestigious museums across America for a year after the competition giving millions of Americans the opportunity to view the original artwork. This was the second time Brad had been chosen by "Arts For The Parks" and also the second time his painting was chosen to tour our country.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument contacted Brad and asked if they could buy the piece for permanent placement in the Statute. Brad refused to sell it to them, but instead gifted it to them and our country in his grandmother's name. His grandmother an immigrant from Yugoslavia came to America as so many did with nothing but the clothes on their backs. She was only 15 years old when she arrived on American soil. And like so many immigrants she came hungry and afraid but hopeful for a new and better life. As a child I remember her telling me stories of her coming here. When she saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time she broke down in tears. And always did if we talked about the subject again. A very hardworking and brave woman she was. Thanks to America and our forefathers she was able to truly know what freedom meant and she never could have lived life the way God had intended it to be lived from where she came. I know if she were alive today she would give anything for her country, she was that thankful. After she passed away in 1991, Brad put this original beside her casket on an easel, bent down kissed her on the forehead and said "This painting is my gift to you grandma, you are the one who I thought of when I painted it. You were my inspiration for the painting. I am now going to give this painting to America from you grandma. I know you would have wanted me to to do that for you" To this day this painting by artist Bradley J. Parrish resides on display in the Statue of Liberty National Monument Museum in New York.
The Engagement
Painted in 1988 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size 48"w x 86"h
*Commissioned Painting
The Grand Ballroom
MAC The Milwaukee Athletic Club
The Engagement
*Brads mill work design around his painting where a large movie screen lowers from the top of this structure. You can see the slit next to the three down lights.
Dolphin Climbing Wall
DOLPHIN CLIMBING WALL
In 2004 Brad painted and donated this 20'h x 60'w children's climbing wall mural on behalf of his three children to their grade school, County line Elementary School in Germantown, Wisconsin. Brad even asked the schools children to be a part of this happening and every child that wanted to paint a little fish on the wall did so.
CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE MURAL
Dixie Rhythm
Painted in 1986 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 18"h x 24"w
*This original has been reproduced as a Open Edition Print.
Treasures
Painted in 1992 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 11"w x 14"h
Making A Wish
Painted in 2007 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 24"h x 30"w
Brett Favre
Painted in 1996 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 12"h x 16"w
Downhill Rush
Painted in 1983 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 19" x 22"w
The Last Performance
Painted in 1974 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 18"w x 24"h
*Commissioned Painting
Geronimo
Painted in 1998 / Medium" Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 20"w x 30"h
Brett
Painted in 1999 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 36"h x 48"w
Powder
Painted in 1990 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 16"w x 20"h
Pet Portraits
The following portraits are of our beloved pets. Brad was either commissioned to paint these animals or did them as gifts to give people such as family and friends. There have been a great many pet portraits Brad has done over his long career. As a child this yielded the artist the needed money to help support his mother and sister growing up. Then later in his teen years the needed money to buy better oil paints, pastels and canvas to keep working. Almost never were the portraits ever photographed after he completed them especially those he did as a child and pretty much all the way up to 1986. These are but a few that were photographed.
The Old Irish Setter
Painted in 1989 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 14"w x 18"h
Gizmo
Painted in 1993 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 20"h x 24"w
King For More Than A Day
Painted in 1994 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 5"w x 7"h
Gone But Not Forgotten
Painted in 2014 / Medium: Oil on Canvas / Image Size: 4"w x 6"h
Gone But Not Forgotten (Back)
Cleo
Painted in 2012 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 6"w x 6"h
Sebastian
Painted in 2012 / Medium: Pastel on Paper / Image Size: 6"w x 6"h
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: This early commission portrait of a families German Shepard is a good example of Brad photographing the piece after it was complete and before he shipped it to the owner. After the piece was shipped and Brad received the photos he took back from the developer some time later, he was understandably extremely upset with the problem he had with either his camera, the film in the camera or the developing of the film. We are hoping that the owners of this Pastel on Paper measuring approximately 24"h x 40"w finds Brad's website, sees this photograph and contacts us to send a better photograph of this piece for our record and for this website.
We furthermore hope that anyone that has a painting that Brad had done between from 1963 to the present date that are not show on this website please contact us so that we can ad the images in his vast body of works that Brad has done over the past 50 years.