Laconia artist finds fulfillment in teaching

LACONIA — Art has been a constant companion in Amy Parker’s life. Despite her talent and passion for art, it did not become her profession until well into her adulthood. Now she sells her work around the country, and has a membership service teaching other artists the ins and outs of entrepreneurship.

As a painter, Parker creates colorful landscapes and portraits using a variety of techniques and mixed media. Her styles range from realism, impressionism and surrealism to all out displays of abstraction in bright color.

As a child, Parker and her family lived near the beach, which became an inspiration for her later pieces.

“We took walks in the woods, we painted on shells, we basically just got our hands dirty,” Parker said. That love of nature and exploration is what drives much of her work today. Parker dabbles with a wide array of media, and much of her work features natural landscapes.

Like many artists, Parker found her path to the profession in her own way.

“A lot of artists want to create and sell their work, but they have heard, maybe like me for many years, ‘Oh you don’t want to be a starving artist,'” Parker said. “I went to trade school and got my hairdressing license.”

Parker went on to describe herself as a lifelong entrepreneur. Even as she ran her own business, Parker kept on drawing and painting, unaware that her art career was about to take off.

“One day, I came home and took a break from the hair salon and drew a picture of one of my dogs and put it online,” Parker recalled. “I woke up and I had five orders. Fast forward, I told my husband, ‘I think I’m gonna close the shop and sell my paintings and drawings online.'”

Her training as a hairdresser and the entrepreneurial spirit it instilled were not wasted. Instead, Parker used those skills to sell herself and promote her work. Parker cultivated a local art collectors group of around a dozen patrons, and started selling her work across the country.

“I was selling one to four paintings a day for three years,” Parker recalled. “Then I was like, ‘Other artists are going to want to know about this, and how to do this.' So I started a membership to teach them how to do this.”

Parker has used the internet to sell her work, teach others, find inspiration, and even learn new techniques herself.

“I'm watching the reels, the TikToks and this and that,” Parker said, gesturing to a large drip-style landscape. “I did take a workshop on this particular type of painting.”

Parker took a canvas to her daughter’s home in Plymouth and painted en plein air, and even incorporated a few drops of rain into the drip technique.

“It’s just an experiment, but I think it came out cool,” Parker said. “Not everyone is going to like it, but I got some good feedback on it. Art is subjective.”

Parked emphasized the need to experiment and even fail to improve in one’s craft.

“A lot of artists when they start creating art, they think, ‘I’m not a good artist if I don't create a masterpiece,' but that's not how life goes,” Parker laughed. “I have created so many crappy paintings, but that’s what makes you better at art, just experimenting and playing around.”