Born in Normandy in 1941, Yves Parent was exposed to art and the sea from an early age.  Sailing and painting have always been his passion.  His watercolors are always with him.  He uses his watercolor tablet to sketch and paint as he travels on the water.  His notations remind him of the place, the conditions, and the colors that he experienced so that the painting, which he finishes in his Connecticut studio, is just as he wants it to be.  Yves has been a crew member in many offshore races between 1962 and 1980, including the Whitbread.  He has single handed his sailboat across the Atlantic.  Now he concentrates on his art.  Two books of his watercolors, both now out of print, were published in Paris.

carmen's is one of the fortunate east coast galleries in which Parent's paintings hang.  Parent, until recently, preferred watercolor as his medium with Chesapeake Bay scenes as his subject matter.  Now Yves paints luminous, wonderful oil paintings of life on the water.  The images below are of his watercolors, but his oil paintings will appear here soon.  Still the consummate sailor and renaissance man, Yves sails into Solomons harbor once or twice a year and adds a touch of French flavor to our island.