As we were having a (rare) moment of quiet story time tonight, I happened to look out the window and saw this. Nothing shocking or as pretty as those glorious pink and purple sunsets, but nice. Fluffy clouds that look like pictures against a blue sky.
Just nice.


It immediately reminded me of one of my favorite artists.

Maxfield Parrish, an early 20th century painter, was known for his rich use of color, beautiful light, and fantasy-like quality. He was a working illustrator as well and did many works depicting children's rhymes and stories.

This one is one of his more famous paintings. It's called Daybreak.

We have a poster of this one. Because I'm such a fan of the "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" rhyme, (caution, extreme sarcasm) I couldn't resist having this in our home. (I think it was done as an ad for seeds using the ...how does your garden grow... tag line)

And you Enya fans will recognize this one.
Go to this site to see more of his beautiful stuff.

This one is my favorite. It's called "Morning".

His work danced with illustration while still maintaining fine art credibility. Which is what I used to try to do in my college days. But back then, (fresh out of the eighties) some of my art professors were still wrapped up in the ultra angry feminist Guerrilla Girls movement and were determined to squash my conservative ideas about contemporary art. Back then, if it wasn't abstract or weird or unusual, it was crap. I was SOL because I preferred making art that was recognizable. Maybe not give too much information in a piece, but give the viewer something to think about other than just color juxtaposition or composition or is that fruit or a naked person?

Alas, the pressures involved with being a working illustrator were not something I wanted or was capable of handling so I'm content just to look at this kind of stuff and allow it to inspire me to paint a picture or two once in a while.