= three of my favorite design elements ...
All items in this post are featured in my latest Etsy treasury - wood+light+white - visit to see the whole collection, leave me your comments, for more info and to shop.
Monday, July 5, 2010
wood + light + white
= three of my favorite design elements ...
All items in this post are featured in my latest Etsy treasury - wood+light+white - visit to see the whole collection, leave me your comments, for more info and to shop.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, September 28, 2009
I Heart: light filled office spaces
Retro wallpaper? Check. Big, bright windows? Check. Mid-century styling? Check. Let's get to work!
Which one do you like? Leave me comments, let me know...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Flickr Faves: James M - Polaroids from Sydney NSW, Australia
These lovelies were all taken with a Polaroid camera. No, I'm not kidding. Oh, yes, I know. Amazing! Visit the stream HERE.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
DIY Project: Mirror Headboard
Arrange small light weight mirrors grid-style for a glamorous regency-style look in the bedroom. I really like this idea for the glam factor and because it would bring extra light into any space.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Art History: Maxfield Parrish - Part 2
The year of his marriage also brought Parrish his first magazine cover commission withHarper’s Bazaar that began his artistic career, which endured over 50 years and helped define the Golden Age of Illustration and the American visual arts. His talent for illustration and skill with colors caught the eye of many publishers and his work was commissioned for book illustrations, calendars, greeting cards, product advertisements, candy boxes and print. His work appeared in three of the twentieth century’s most-loved, and best known children’s books: Poems of Childhood by Eugene Field (1904), Arabian Nights by Nora Smith and Kate Wiggins (1909), and the most beloved of the Parrish illustrated books, Knave of Hearts by Louise Saunders (1925).
The Knave oil on panel
Between 1904 and 1935, Parrish enjoyed a steady flow of requests for work and was revered as a celebrity when his commissions rose to $2,000 each. An absolute favorite with the American public by 1925; one out of every four households in the United States had a copy of one of his art prints displayed in their home. A survey taken at that time found him listed among the top three favorite artists along with Cezanne and Van Gogh. He was inducted into the Society of American Artists in 1897.
Garden of Allah oil on panel
Technique and Influence
Maxfield Parrish was an innovator in the use of luminous color. The color “Parrish blue”, used frequently in his paintings, was named in his honor. Parrish created a technique of glazing bright layers of oil color separated by varnish and then applied to a base rendering of a blue and white monochromatic under painting. He achieved depth in his paintings by using enlargements of photographs of figures or objects which he projected and then traced at half or full size. The next steps were to cut out and place the images on the canvas and then apply multiple layers of thick glaze. The result creates realistically sized subjects and very vivid colors which appear almost three-dimensional when viewing his original paintings.
Garden of Allah oil on panel
Technique and Influence
Maxfield Parrish was an innovator in the use of luminous color. The color “Parrish blue”, used frequently in his paintings, was named in his honor. Parrish created a technique of glazing bright layers of oil color separated by varnish and then applied to a base rendering of a blue and white monochromatic under painting. He achieved depth in his paintings by using enlargements of photographs of figures or objects which he projected and then traced at half or full size. The next steps were to cut out and place the images on the canvas and then apply multiple layers of thick glaze. The result creates realistically sized subjects and very vivid colors which appear almost three-dimensional when viewing his original paintings.
Morning oil on panel
Another method invented by Parrish involved making a large piece of cloth patterned with a black-and-white geometric design, draping the cloth on a human, and then photographing the model. With a developed transparency of the photo projected on a white canvas, Parrish used graphite to color in any parts of the project that were to be black. The outcome was a completed painting of a figure wearing a precisely draped cloth with a unique pattern on it. No artist has duplicated the style of Parrish but he influenced many including Norman Rockwelland Andy Warhol.
The Waterfall (1930), Solitude (1930) - both oil on panel
The Landscape Painter
During the 1930s, their children grown and pursuing their own careers, and unhappy about Susan Levin living full-time in the studio with Parrish, Lydia left home to live alone, writing and painting during winters in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. In 1931, after two winters in Arizona, Parrish decided to abandon his classic, “girls on rocks” theme and focused on painting landscapes. During this period, Parrish studied the hues of nature and applied even more intense colors to his work. A series of Great Southwest paintings include Night in the Desert,Desert with Water, The Grand Canyon, Pueblo Dwellings, Desert without Water (Cowboys), and Water on a Field of Alfalfa. He also produced a series of New England landscapes that were well received by the American public following the Great Depression and in the years leading to World War II. Many of his landscapes were printed on greeting cards, playing cards and in calendars published by Minnesota’s Brown & Bigelow Company from 1937 until 1962. Parrish also designed and painted a number of murals, on the walls of his own home and as decoration within famous hotels and bars across the country.
Evening Shadows, New Hampshire Hills oil on panel
The Last Painting
In 1961, Parrish finished his last painting, Getting Away from It All. The small oil on board shows a lone house on a high mountain peak surrounded by winter snow lit with the light of dawn. A small light burns in the window, and a fantastic light rises beyond the hill as if a beacon inviting the viewer to move from the safety of the home and go on to a higher realm. Parrish painted until he was 90 years old and died in 1966 at the age of 95. Each new generation rediscovers the magic and romance of Maxfield Parrish’s artwork and he remains the most reproduced artist in the history of art.
Getting away from It All (1960) oil on panel
Part 2 of a 2 part post--please click here to read part one from last week! To view a respresentative collection of works by Maxfield Parrish visit HERE.
Copyright Tina Pfeiffer 2009 - do not use the text in this post without my written permission.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Art History: Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966)
“I don't know what people find or like in me, I'm hopelessly commonplace!”
~Maxfield Parrish
Most of us can remember the first time we saw an art picture or children’s book illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. The magical worlds created by Parrish usually include the color of lapis lazuli blue; in it’s purest form, also known by fine artists as “Parrish Blue”. The works of Parrish are romanticized scenes filled with electric violets, radiant reds, and rich glowing earth tones. Feminine or androgynous figures, nude and partially draped in flowing fabrics, maidens and knights lounging under porticoes flanked by classical pillars with lush backgrounds landscapes of make-believe mountains, fantasy waterfalls and fairy tale ambiance are common in the world of Maxfield Parrish paintings. The beauty, attention to detail and technical execution of the work denies us the ability to question their existence. The extraordinary people and fire-breathing dragons of a Parrish painting are so realistic that we want to believe they can be real people in real places.
Daybreak (1922) oil on panel
The Illustrator
Born July 25, 1870 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frederick Maxfield Parrish was the child of Stephen Parrish, a well-known artist and etcher and his wife Elizabeth Bancroft Parrish. Maxfield, a descendant of generations of Quaker physicians, adopted his middle name as his professional name at a young age and followed in his father’s footsteps to pursue a love of art.
Egypt (1920) oil on panel
During his childhood, Parrish began drawing for pleasure, enjoyed painting trips in the summers with his father and visits to the major museums of Europe as a teen. Graduating from Haverford College in 1892, Parrish entered the Pennsylvania Academy and studied there until 1894. Working as an aide to Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute he met Lydia Austin, another instructor and his first female model, and they married in 1895, were married for 58 years and together produced four children: Dillwyn (1904), Maxfield Jr. (1906), Stephen (1909) and Jean (1911). Parrish and his family lived on an estate he designed, built, and named “The Oaks”.
Ectascy (1929) oil on panel, 36 x 24
The Parrish estate was in the middle of an artist’s colony founded by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, his father Stephen, and other writers, poets and painters of the era. The Oaks was built near Cornish, in Plainfield, New Hampshire, and overlooked the Connecticut River. Parrish filled his home and his children’s lives with reading and culture including musical soirees hosted in the main house. At the suggestion of his father, Parrish hired Susan Lewin; age sixteen, to assist Lydia with their first child during her difficult second pregnancy. Shortly after her employment began, Susan became the primary model in Parrish’s studio, his mistress (which lasted for 55 years), and his constant companion until a few years after his wife passed away. Despite being widowed, Parrish declined to marry Susan and she retaliated by marrying a childhood friend, at age 70, in 1960.
~Maxfield Parrish
Most of us can remember the first time we saw an art picture or children’s book illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. The magical worlds created by Parrish usually include the color of lapis lazuli blue; in it’s purest form, also known by fine artists as “Parrish Blue”. The works of Parrish are romanticized scenes filled with electric violets, radiant reds, and rich glowing earth tones. Feminine or androgynous figures, nude and partially draped in flowing fabrics, maidens and knights lounging under porticoes flanked by classical pillars with lush backgrounds landscapes of make-believe mountains, fantasy waterfalls and fairy tale ambiance are common in the world of Maxfield Parrish paintings. The beauty, attention to detail and technical execution of the work denies us the ability to question their existence. The extraordinary people and fire-breathing dragons of a Parrish painting are so realistic that we want to believe they can be real people in real places.
Daybreak (1922) oil on panel
The Illustrator
Born July 25, 1870 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Frederick Maxfield Parrish was the child of Stephen Parrish, a well-known artist and etcher and his wife Elizabeth Bancroft Parrish. Maxfield, a descendant of generations of Quaker physicians, adopted his middle name as his professional name at a young age and followed in his father’s footsteps to pursue a love of art.
Egypt (1920) oil on panel
During his childhood, Parrish began drawing for pleasure, enjoyed painting trips in the summers with his father and visits to the major museums of Europe as a teen. Graduating from Haverford College in 1892, Parrish entered the Pennsylvania Academy and studied there until 1894. Working as an aide to Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute he met Lydia Austin, another instructor and his first female model, and they married in 1895, were married for 58 years and together produced four children: Dillwyn (1904), Maxfield Jr. (1906), Stephen (1909) and Jean (1911). Parrish and his family lived on an estate he designed, built, and named “The Oaks”.
Ectascy (1929) oil on panel, 36 x 24
The Parrish estate was in the middle of an artist’s colony founded by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, his father Stephen, and other writers, poets and painters of the era. The Oaks was built near Cornish, in Plainfield, New Hampshire, and overlooked the Connecticut River. Parrish filled his home and his children’s lives with reading and culture including musical soirees hosted in the main house. At the suggestion of his father, Parrish hired Susan Lewin; age sixteen, to assist Lydia with their first child during her difficult second pregnancy. Shortly after her employment began, Susan became the primary model in Parrish’s studio, his mistress (which lasted for 55 years), and his constant companion until a few years after his wife passed away. Despite being widowed, Parrish declined to marry Susan and she retaliated by marrying a childhood friend, at age 70, in 1960.
Stars (1926) oil on panel, 35 x 21
Part 1of a 2 part post--please visit again to read part two next week! To view a nice respresentative collection of more work by Maxfield Parrish visit HERE.
Copyright Tina Pfeiffer 2009 - do not use the text in this post without my written permission.
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