Beth Parker’s living room doubles as her studio, stuffed with books, paintings, and color.
With a bright smile Beth Parker waves me into her kitchen — it is like entering Ali Baba’s cave, only there are no heaps of gold and silver. Instead, I tiptoe around jewels for the mind: pyramids of books in corners or spilling off shelves vying for space with stacks of painted canvases casually leaning against any vertical surface. It’s a treasure trove in its own right begging to be explored. We wind our way carefully through several rooms. Every inch of wall space is covered with art. An etching by Parker’s grandfather, Peter Huntington, of birds on a branch, a Degas lithograph of Mary Cassatt at the Louvre, and a radiant childhood portrait of Parker, by her mother, also a painter, Anne Easton Parker.
Then, suddenly, there I am, in her studio, the living room!
She seems eager to start painting but instead leads me to the sofa that establishes her studio boundary. Leaning forward, her hands lightly clasped, she gives me another encouraging smile.
What sparks you in the morning to get started? Is there a routine? What makes your creative persona blossom?
My routine: I lie in bed in the early morning and simply don’t want to move or get up. My husband (Don Nitchie, the poet) calls it “positional depression.” But then I’ll start thinking about my painting. That makes me want to get up. Nothing else does! The idea of painting catapults me out of bed. I think of all the things I want to change, the color I want to intensify, the shape I want to adjust, a stronger color perhaps that I am sure will make all the difference. Then, I look at it and think, well … maybe I did not remember this right — maybe it’s not so bad!
I’m a night painter, I garden, then take a nap and then paint late into the night. Knowing I have a new show coming up helps me focus.
What makes me blossom you ask? I consider painting a job … do the best work you can, destroy, restart, work at it, ignore that inner recording of doubt, that inner policeman, that yearning to be recognized, to be reviewed in the NYT. Just do it, work, that’s what gets me going.
What’s the secret to your studio, how do you organize it?
Badly! As you can see, my studio is in the corner of our living room. There, right behind me, three square feet, proof that you can take over any space. This is the room where it happens, you don’t have to have a designated studio, you just say, this is my studio — this is the boundary!
Everything is within reach. All I need is a window and those two old lights, this paint-encrusted swivel chair, my sweatshirt and the table, my palette — perfect.
I stretch my own canvases, I stash rolls of canvas behind the curtain; I get strapping and plywood from building trash sites and Cottles. I collect bottle caps to hold premixed colors and keep them in take-out containers with the lid on to stop the paint from drying out. Then I’m always ready to go. Splattered flower pots prop up canvases during the priming. The dictionary, essential, helps me with my rapper lyrics. Old newspaper images cut out here and there stimulate my imagination. This looks disorganized but it’s not. My favorite pastels are cataloged on my computer so it’s easy to get the exact same ones when I reorder. I torture my brushes but always get a good supply straight from Blicks, a dozen at a time. I raid stores for old paintings and repaint them. And, last but not least: my hair dryer, it’s in constant use. My last one lasted 30 years, I loved it — it was as encrusted with paint as I am — then, one day it failed me. Sad. I work with acrylics, the hairdryer allows me to highlight, shade and repaint with no down time. My favorite tool.
All this in three square feet, so — really — not that bad!
Who are your favorite artists, living or dead? Why?
Max Ernst and Saul Steinberg. The vision, the execution, the images, the whole package — the colors. Both influenced me profoundly.
What music do you listen to? Or do you need total silence?
Always music. Now I listen to nothing but Brazilian rappers. Dj Onga and Tasha & Tracie are my current favorites. I listen to them over and over again — it’s good for learning a new language, I merge with the music. My first husband was Brazilian — so I can speak — clumsily.
How hard is it to finish something? How do you deal with that inner policeman?
It’s more fun to begin, so I start several things which I finish “by degree.” Bolaño, the writer, says: “always be working on multiple things at once.” When working on more things at once you become more ruthless, less attached, braver about fixing or letting go completely.
Do books inspire you visually? What is on your nightstand now?
Books yesss! I love fantasy and science fiction. I hate reality — I am really, really reality averse! I like images of space ports, special effects, light magic, dazzling explosions. I also like fantasy westerns. I plow through them, a book a day. I buy stacks of used paperbacks and then feel guilty because the author probably never sees one penny. I probably should send the writer a painting as a thank you.
Which is your favorite painting in this house, yours or someone else’s and why?
Xavier Navarro, over there behind you. He used to live here, but then went back to Spain. He is a Catalan painter. I bought this painting when I first became a mom with two little ones and not much cash — it was a huge investment — I bought it over time. I just gave him several post-dated checks and told him to cash them one by one. What I love about Navarro’s painting is the explosion of color and architecture, the painterly handling of forces. I like muscular splashes, seeming lack of control combined with utter control of line — looseness and lightness like the work of Ralph Steadman, the British painter.
I envy them — I would like to loosen up — but it’s not me.
Back to color. What does color mean to you? What is your favorite color?
All colors need each other — they bounce off each other — in the garden as well. One should have no fear of mixing. I don’t have a favorite color but I do return to turquoise and pink — a lot! I love color, the combination of fields of color — it’s soothing. My mother always said that just knowing about the color turquoise made her happy. That’s how I feel — turquoise, pink and blue — how can you go wrong?
Do you like to draw? Whose drawings have inspired you most?
I used to draw, but less now. Still, all the paintings do start as drawings on canvas. I look at Steinberg’s drawings, he is such a genius. He kept going even when his hand was no longer steady. I have a lot of tremor in my left hand, and I am left-handed. But, he figured it out … one hand can steady the other, stabilize it. That works.
Last question: Name me three artists you would like to invite to dinner and why?
I will NEVER do that because I hate dinner parties — especially if those artists are already peacefully dead. Why bother them? Dinner with strangers or fawning admirers — how awful! Not for me!
With that, on my way out, I buy a small painting and Parker gives me a book, begging me to promise never to return it.