Colleen Eckles Portrait by J.D. Parrish (MCC Professor)
Had her portrait done around 2011
Audit
J.D. Parrish was born John David Parrish at Lone Pine, California. His childhood was nomadic, due to his father’s position in an international construction company, his family averaged one move a year. At the age of 15 he moved to Western Samoa in the South Pacific where he attended high school. His Samoan school did not have art classes and his first exposure to the art world came in college where he fell in love with the Old Masters and the Classical paintings of the 19th century. His love for classical painting, has led Parrish to the great museums of Europe time and time again. Parrish devoted most his studies to the figure and believes that any emotion can be communicated and evoked through the expressions and articulations of the human form.
In 1986, Parrish graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California with a BFA in Illustration. With the intense training he received there he was able to work with a wide variety of mediums and techniques. The principles of communication and form he practiced and learned at the Art Center have proven invaluable to his work. After graduation in 1986, Parrish went to work as an illustrator in the Los Angeles area until 1988, when he moved to Arizona and began his career as a fine artist.
Parrish’s paintings and sculptures have shown through out the world. Currently Parrish teaches drawing and painting at an Arizona college, and continues to paint and work as an artist.