Tapping Into Flow
Miramar Beach resin artist finds signature style in letting go
At 47, Brendan Parker is most at peace when he has his hands in paint, when his fingers are covered in pigment and he’s tapped into his flow. With each session, the colors move and settle, reacting with the epoxy resin that gives him the ability to create more depth and more dimension in his pieces.
“It’s like nature’s painting it because all of the materials I use create a chemical reaction with each other and with the resin,” Parker said. “They all have their little effects.”
Parker’s Nebula piece creates an immersive experience for viewers, a visualization inspired by imagined vibrant galaxies. Photo by Sean Murphy
Parker enjoys working with resin because its translucence allows for visually effective layering. But the medium can be tricky. Its reluctance to comply frustrated him early on. Still, it held his interest.
“The more you try to force it, the more it will laugh at you and work against you,” he said. “You have to learn to let go, so it’s a teacher in a way. … By the time you walk into the studio the next day, it’s typically different from how you remember it. Once you start adding heat by torching it, it becomes even more volatile.”
As much as resin wishes to will its own fate, Parker seems to have mastered the medium. His pieces are artfully unpredictable, graceful in their movement and mesmerizing in the way that each possesses energy, life and emotion.
Nebula keeps Parker company as he works in his studio. Photo by Sean Murphy
“I don’t usually have a design in mind when I start — nothing really beyond size and color palette,” explained the Miramar Beach-based artist. “In the case of custom pieces, I’ll go in and measure the space, get a feel for the vibe that already exists there and work with that. But nothing inspires me like a blank wall.”
As a young man, Parker’s creative outlet was music. On his guitar, he played songs by ear with ease and created his own. But that energy was refocused on his 21st birthday after a severe grease burn on his hand prevented him from playing and the subsequent painkillers kept him from going out and celebrating. Instead, he pulled out some gel mediums he’d bought months before and let loose.
After 17 years of painting, Parker has learned how to “drop in” to a creative flow state where emotion and inspiration are free to run their course.
“Sometimes it happens quickly; sometimes it doesn’t happen at all,” he admits. “That’s art. There’s tremendous therapeutic value in just being able to let go and feel,” he said. “I just turn my mind off, put my hands in paint, start moving it around and finger paint as I try to find the flow. I’m not thinking, just feeling and having fun. I let the composition take over because it has a certain way it likes to move, and I just give it the freedom and space to do what it’s going to do.”
Parker’s cathartic approach becomes a technique, translating emotion to his canvas and expressing moods and energies through color palettes and movement. The fluidity of resin enhances the translation, mirroring intensity or calm with its results.
A 2024 Brendan Parker original, Singularity’s blue and white hues draw viewers into a soothing vortex. Photo by Sean Murphy
Much of his work has found a home in luxury hotels and real estate. Parker regularly works with interior design firms in the area. For Sandestin’s Hotel Effie, he was commissioned to supply more than 250 unique pieces ahead of its grand opening in early 2021. His custom works can be found in the lobby, conference center and the presidential suite. And each room features a print design created exclusively for Hotel Effie.
Photo by Sean Murphy
His industry experience has taught him the value in creating art for more than the sake of art, for the sake of making a living. Recently, he’s created a course through his YouTube channel offering advice to artists on how to sell, pick up vendors and make a career of their passion.
A Georgia native, Parker has scratched the itch to wander outside the Southeast before, but he was always pulled back to the Emerald Coast. The free-flowing style of his work speaks to the coastal lifestyle. Whether his pieces grace the walls of a 30A beach home or a commercial coastal property, the calming designs inspire observers to find the beauty in letting go.
