I grew up in a country town in Connecticut, within the confines of a Christian home. The churches that my family attended during my youth seemed problematic and completely unpalatable to me.   I fortunately maintained some affection for the Lord but little for His church.   I moved to Pennsylvania where I began my art studies at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and later continued my schooling at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.   I found myself as disillusioned with art school as I was with organized religion, so I quit and moved to Los Angeles where I set out making a living by working in a broad array of mini-careers. I created illustrated designs for lines of apparel for the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marines. I also generated designs for most major professional sports leagues in as well as college sportswear. 

I transitioned into working as a storyboard artist for film, television and advertising, as well as doing animation for a few Saturday morning TV shows. Later, I worked as a composition artist, creating presentations to sell concepts to film directors and producers. Then, after fifteen years of assorted commercial art jobs, I began to paint fervently as a fine artist, painting people, places and objects - mostly standard romantic subject matter.  I had ceased, by this point, practicing any kind of Christianity.

 A friend of mine touted a book called “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Phil Yancey.  The reading of that book opened my eyes - I saw Jesus’ character portrayed in a manner that I had never seen before.  I subsequently became obsessed with writing a screenplay called “His Only Son” and creating art work for a pitching presentation for an animated film about Jesus.  This massive endeavor had me pouring over the gospels.  I found myself walking with, and wanting to learn more about, this Jesus with renewed understanding and appetite. I began attending Times Square Church in New York City.  Having completed the screenplay (with help from friends) and much biblical art for a pitching presentation, I then moved back to the West coast to try to sell the project to the studios in Hollywood.  I’ve yet to garner success with that project, and don’t know what will become of it, but what matters is the fact that the Lord used it to draw me back to Himself. It has also been the impetuous for the desire to visualize and graphically render biblical concepts.

 In the past year, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to create near life-sized depictions of Biblical heroes for Reality Carpinteria Church.  The paintings were designed to accompany two of Pastor Britt Merrick’s sermon series - Hebrews 10 “Hall of Faith” and “Missio Christi.”  Personally, this latest series, Missio Christi, has generated a love for Christ’s church, while offering valuable biblical perspectives on our role and mission as the Body of Christ, both individually and corporately. 

 I have found myself being challenged to seek God in earnest as I study His Scriptures for insight and accuracy as I attempt to render the truths of the Bible’s histories and spiritual realities.  This is the challenge for all of us where living is concerned, isn’t it?  “How am I ‘rendering’ God’s truths in my life?”

-Neal Parrow

http://www.faithbookart.com/