Drawn to the Mountain - Nola Parsons

Drawn to the Mountain

By Nola Parsons
Forty South Publishing
hard cover book

Drawn to the Mountain - Views of kunanyi

In this wonderful collection of pen-and-ink and watercolour paintings, artist Nola Parsons presents a series of visual meditations on a much-beloved Tasmanian landmark, kunanyi/Mt Wellington, capturing its varying subtleties of light and kaleidoscopic colours throughout changing weather and seasons. Interspersed with lyrical descriptions of mountains and nature from writers ancient and modern, Parsons offers us new ways of seeing a familiar feature of the Hobart landscape, and invites us to give it our care and respect.

About the Artist

Nola Parsons is a Hobart based artist. Her early career was in midwifery, but Nola always harboured a passion for the arts and has practiced drawing and painting throughout her life.

Nola ventured into ceramics in the 1990’s, completing a certificate of ceramics at TasTAFE in 1996, and it was after this, that she opted to pursue painting more seriously. Nola experimented with oils, acrylics and pastels, but it was the allure of watercolour that finally prevailed. The artist was captivated by the transparency and translucency that can be obtained. Nola's practice is to draw and paint on location, and in this regard, watercolour is a convenient medium.

'I love to draw with graphite, water soluble graphite and pen and ink. I often incorporate all these mediums into a painting. My subject of choice is natural and urban landscape. I like to do preliminary sketches at the scene, take some photos and then develop the work in the studio.
I have come late to the earnest pursuit of a harboured passion but reflect on my journey philosophically.  My role in midwifery was to partake in the miracle of birth. I now explore with equal fascination the passion for personal creativity and the joys of bringing life to a blank canvas.'
 ~ Nola Parsons