About

Parow’s inspiration: 

‘Hand Coloured Black & White Prints from the 19th century’. 

In the 80’s: Parow started colouring with translucent paints & pencils on her black&white silver prints.

In the 90’s: she moved to opaque inks & paints on her colour cibachrome prints.

In 1995: she graduated from Advanced Digital Photography and transitioned into the digital darkroom.

In 2000: Parow synthesized a blending of both historic and ultra modern techniques.

At Present: Parow is exploring new drawing techniques on new print materials.

An invented word, Scribbleography images are whimsical, bright and very colourful images of the contemporary landscape.

Parow: a lens based artist, a conservationist.

A Snapshot from Parow’s Perspective

Q. WHY does a photographer see a world of layered, soft, wiggly, and scratchy photographic images?

-The answer: I had an eye impairment that was corrected in my mid-thirties after undergoing vision therapy.

Scribbleography is my impressionistic response to illustrate everyday scenes by merging my new NORMAL vision, my optimistic personality, my desire to celebrate the natural landscape, to transcend time and to express myself in an approachable and whimsical manner.

Scribbleography is a hybrid style which combines analogue photography layered with hand scribbling.

Scribbleography is photographed spontaneously while going from here to there, ‘on-the-road again’ looking for vignettes.

I scribble because it’s fun.

Off Leash Forever

Here is the STORY behind my piece entitled “Off Leash Forever” (#003 of Volume 3 of my Scribbleography books).

This image was created in a provincial park, camping at Lake Superior. I was camping alone with my big dog Kyte, a 12 year old Irish Wolfhound. Kyte suffered an attack of torsion, (GDV), he went into shock and died in my arms. I was utterly devastated.

I wandered through the next few days empty and aimless, until I discovered a path in those woods. I was struck by how this path seemed somehow ‘hopeful’. Moved, I forced myself to find the beauty, the energy and the joy in his transition. I photographed the path in the pouring rain as an ode to my sweet companion Kyte.  – The memory of Kyte – I scribbled in his spirit hovering/travelling along this path. I named this piece in his sweet honor, for his new found freedom, ‘Off Leash Forever’.

While not all my art work is as profound as this, and obviously, any given viewer will not be privy to this, I still believe you will “see” in my artwork something that will move you, something that will speak to you, and something that will hold joyous answers; that is my hope in sharing my Scribbleography style. To add and not diminish.

‘scribbleography’ is a growing body of 150 pieces.

Since 2000 Lorraine Parow has been exploring and creating new imagery with TREES.

Trees Trees Trees

Lorraine Parow (Toronto) celebrates community and female empowerment in her photographic sculptural work, Wimmin Rising: Planting Positive Words. Twenty-three small documentary images of hand-written inspirational quotes and messages are individually framed and installed in the shape of the Venus symbol. The sculptural object transforms as one looks more closely and a series of ‘positive flash cards’ created as part of a participatory workshop at a woman’s festival reveal themselves. The driving force of this initiative was to prioritize uplifting words and positive messaging for the community. Parow translates this collective experience documenting the signs throughout the site and creating her own sign for these ideas in the cultural form of the Venus symbol.

Elisa Coish, Curator The Latcham Gallery

The first of this series: Planting Positive Words has been exhibited at:

Latcham

ARTSCAPE YOUNGPLACE

Fingers crossed as I not only create the next Wimmin Rising mosaic symbol but also prepare myself to make it public 🙂

More to come.