I met Shane Parsons through this interview series, which just serves to underscore the good things that can come from putting creativity out in the world. I became a fan of his immediately; not only his work, but his. He quickly struck me as a deep, wise, authentic soul with an enormous well of emotional color, which he puts on canvas eloquently. His abstracts are complex, delightful, graphic, evocative, and brilliantly composed. I am a fan. - CC What did creativity look like for you in childhood?
Explorative and scratching the surface. I spent a great deal of time drawing (more like doodling) and writing poetry as a kid but it took a backseat to sports.
Eyes on The Prize, Shane Parsons
How did your relationship to creativity change as you grew into an adult? Grew in ways I couldn't recognize until much later. Both in sports and life, I used visualization and creative thinking to approach and overcome an array of scenarios and challenges.
Acid Rain, Shane Parsons
Since, through the Ferris Bueller references, I know we're about the same age, how does your relationship with creativity look now versus, say, twenty years ago?
Like wine. It took a lot of time for things to come together but it's something that is on the outside of me now and fully a part of me.
Eyes on Python, Shane Parsons
Where do you find opportunities to be creative in your professional life? Where do you see impediments to creative thinking/what would you change in this regard if you could? Outbound messaging and genuinely connecting with prospects and clients. I find impediments to creative thinking when I'm not being challenged or life hits a point where things are at ease - oddly enough.
In search of life beyond the light, Shane Parsons
Funny that we were both NASM-certified personal trainers! (Perhaps you still are?) How did you explore your creativity in athletics? No longer certified but when I was working full-time personal training and working with kids I leveraged creativity in designing workouts, implementing routines, and motivating individuals through positive affirmations and constructive coaching.
Passageways, Shane Parsons
I am very much a fan of your work, even though it is new to me. It's so bright and dynamic, while still being very bold and even architectural. I think about abstract painting similar to a classic Blues format in music -- limiting yourself to color, shape, and brushwork amounts to a set of enabling constraints, which can provide really juicy opportunities to be creative within those constraints. From what I see, you nail that idea. Could you tell me about a favorite piece of yours, and what your process was in painting it?
Love your thoughts and perspective! Hard to nail a particular piece but I would say the one that I adore most is titled "Throw me in the Fire" It's one of my latest and most recent paintings I made. It's sort of a self-portrait and displays a feeling I had back in November of 2021 when I was struggling with work, not sure who I was anymore, and frustrated with my situation. In less than 10 minutes I had a finished piece I was completely aligned and happy with which is rare. As far as my process, it's spontaneous and most of my work is a series of paintings that eventually settles as one so it often takes several days. I spend very little time thinking about what I want to paint and I spend more time thinking about lines and colors as far as the way they will play as I am working in real-time with the piece. That's the beauty of it. I have a sense of direction but I'm not fully sure where I'm going yet I have tremendous trust in the process and know the feeling when I finally arrive at my destination.
Bird Brain, Shane Parsons
What's inspiring you in this moment?
The love and support I have for my son. The pressures of life and the hurdles I'm facing. Staying positive and keeping a growth-like mentality despite the negatives.
I've long loved hearts. They are universal, powerful, simple and complex at once, and as a graphic, they never cease to look great. Shane makes them sing. - CC L-R, top to bottom: Eat Your Heart Out Here's My Heart, Please Don't Break It King of Hearts Love and I Lead Copyright Shane Parsons, 2022 See more of Shane's work by following him on Instagram @dotsandblots
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