Leon Parson

Leon Parson moved to southeast Idaho when he was a young boy. There, he developed a deep love and insight for wildlife, the outdoors, and all that nature offers.

Since early in his childhood, Parson has increased in appreciation for art and biology and took his passion into higher education. With nine years of formal art training, he earned three degrees; an Associate in Art and Science in 1974, Ricks College, Idaho; a Bachelor of Fine Art in Illustration, 1977, The Art Center College of Design, California; and a Master of Fine Art in Illustration in 1985 from Syracuse University, New York.

“True art must stir the heart and reach deep into the soul of the viewer if it is going to last.  Emotions make art ‘live’.  I judge everything first with my mind and then give it the final critique from my heart.  I believe that before an artist hopes to touch the heart of another, he must first have that feeling within himself. Sometimes your heart chooses things that you have to be true to, regardless of what your mind thinks. I have personally been intrigued with animals since I was a small child and am thrilled inside each time I get a chance to observe them. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a fleeting glimpse or if I have the privilege of spending all day with them. It is so crucial to me to experience first hand all that I paint from listening to a pair of bull elk insult each other across a canyon with their bugles or realize that a big old buck has been watching me and then, with eye contact made, see him turn and magically vanish into the timber. I need to experience the first light of morning as it turns the gray-green pines into a soft orange, or watch as the snow changes the forest’s complexion, beginning in the fall through heavy winter and finally into spring. If I’m not living it, how else can I say it honestly in art?!”