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Sharing Parrish

 
The response I've received from so many of you has affirmed my decision to share my own love for Mr. Parrish's art. The following, unsolicited, unedited emails inspired me to open a larger forum for those of you who simply can't fit what a "Parrish" experience means into a brief guest registry.

Maxfield Parrish - Pandora What started as a learning exercise for me has now taken on a life of it's own. Over ten thousand people visited this site last year (1999). Take a moment to look over the Awards page to read about some of the other magical things which have happened during the same time.

I invite you to share your own moments of enchantment. If you have a "Sharing Parrish" --- be it short, long, funny, sad --- please, inspire us and share. You get to choose how you want it posted - signed or anonymously. I may be opening "Pandora's Box", and I hope I am! Click on Pandora to share.

Grace & Peace,

Galileo
 ~.~

 



Webmasters Notes:

2002 - As of October 1st that number is over 22,000. I am absolutely awestruck at the popularity of Maxfield Parrish, and truely humbled by the outpouring of appreciation and words of encouragement for this website. Thank You.

2004 - In spite of being knocked offline for a total of four and half months, the Maxfield Parrish Online Gallery registered over 29,000 unique visitors. Simply Incredible!

2006 - This gallery averaged between 40,000 and 50,000 per month throughout 2006. That's over a half a million visitors! That is so far beyond my wildest expectations! Thank you!

2007 - As you can tell we've established a dedicated domain name for this site - www.maxfieldparrishonline.com. Plans are coming together to rebuild the site entirely, adding many more images and several other site augments. We're tentatively targeting Spring 2008 for the rebuild.


 

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21 June 2007

Your web site is a wonderful tribute to a man very well thought of by my family. You see my maiden name is Parrish and Maxfield was a cousin of my grandfather. Thank you for sharing his work.

Sincerely,
Penelope A. Miller



17 April 2007

Dear Galileo -

I'm so glad I found your website! Thank you so much!

I first discovered the works of Maxfield Parrish during my teenage years and have been a fan of his work for at least the past 45 years, during which time I've tried to collect as many of the calendar reprints and the poster collections as they were published as I could afford. About 5 years ago as my daughter and I were driving up the SF Bay Area of the California coast at about sunset, coming home from a Science-Fiction convention committee meeting (that's what we do in our "copious" spare time) I looked out over the ocean and exclaimed about how gorgeous the sunset was. My daughter turned her head briefly to check it out (she was driving) and airily said, "Ah, yes, another Maxfield Parrish sunset!" And so a song was born.

The refrain and tune came almost immediately to me, but it has taken a few years for a couple of verses to emerge which I thought good enough. As of this Spring (March 2007) I finally was satisfied with my verses. Each verse directly references several of my favourite Maxfield Parrish pieces - woven together to create a reasonably coherent story - although it would be a lengthy and ultimately unwieldy song to try and include every one of my favourite pieces.

My ultimate dream is to create an audio-visual of the song with a "slideshow" of the named pieces filled in with pieces which are otherwise visually appropriate to the words of the song.

I hope to be debuting the now completed song (words and music) during my Sunday evening song circle presentation at the upcoming Baycon Science Fiction Convention being held at the San Mateo Marriott hotel over Memorial Day weekend 2007, at which I am this year's Fan Guest of Honour. I hope to be able to record the song at that event along with other songs which I have written over the past several decades.

Hoping to hear from you soon, I am

Linda "Kitty" VonBraskat-Crowe
"Just Another Maxfield Parrish Sunset"



4 February 2007

I am happy to know that other share in the respect and admiration for a very great artist. Somehow by accident I discovered this truly miraculous artist. You cannot help being drawn to the warmth and color he expresses in every painting he does, you are pulled into it. And are warmed truly by the experience.

Sincerely
R. Morgan



19 August 2005

I just stumbled across this site while searching the net for info. on the current Parrish art exhibit that's traveling around the country: "Maxfield Parrish, Master of Make-Believe". Actually, I was lucky enough to have visited this exhibit in San Diego just 3 days ago! I live fairly close to Reno, where the artwork was recently on display. Had I known that the exhibit was in Reno then, I would have gone to see it there. I just happened to be in San Diego on vacation, when I saw an ad for the same exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art. Of course I had to go! An added bonus was that on the day my husband and I chose to attend, the museum was free (though I certainly would have paid the $10 without hesitation)! How blessed I was to stumble across this exhibit, and how sad I would have been to have missed it, not knowing I was so close to it in both Reno and San Diego!

Maxfield Parrish - Land of Make Believe Anyway, as for how I found Maxfield Parrish: (whom I've decided must be my favorite artist) I first saw and fell in love with his art as a child. In my small hometown, I would see works such as "Daybreak" hanging in second-hand stores. Even as a young child, I was drawn to these antique prints, which were always a faded, bluish-green in color, and framed in dark, ornately-carved wood. They contained sublime scenes of otherworldly landscapes, which were peopled with beautiful women, clad in Grecian-style gowns, lounging serenely on columned verandas. Of course, I wouldn't have described these images thus at such a young age.

I only knew how they made me feel - as though all cares would disappear if I could step into the world depicted therein. Then time would stop, and I could live in an eternal moment of bliss. I'd just sit and enjoy that perfect time of the afternoon when the sun is low and everything is golden. That must be what heaven is like.

Sometime in my adulthood (I don't remember when), I realized that the pictures I had so enjoyed "escaping" into as a child were by an artist named Maxfield Parrish. Over time, I learned more about this man and his work, and came to appreciate him increasingly as an artist. I've also discovered how widely popular (and mass-produced) his work once was, and in some ways this was disappointing. I wanted to believe that what I saw in these images was unique and personal. Even now, I was hesitant to share about my attachment to Parrish on this website. I know, though, that this is a bit silly, since it is owing to the popularity of this artist’s work that I, as a child, encountered all those second-hand-shop-prints of "Daybreak" in the first place. In fact, it is wonderful to see that others still appreciate this man's work today since, ironically, it seems that almost everyone I mention his name to says, "Who?"

Maxfield Parrish - Reverie Well, one last thing I'll share is the association I make between the artwork of Maxfield Parrish and the music of Claude Debussy. For some reason, when I gaze at a print by the former, a tune by the latter pops into my head. It seems that pieces such as "Clair de Lune", "Reverie" (fitting name) and "Petite Suite: En Bateau" produce in me feelings similar to those derived from Parrish's paintings - peaceful and content, yet somehow melancholy all at once. To those who have bothered to read all of this, check it out for yourselves!

Anne R.
Sacramento, CA



9 July 2002

Dear Special Soul,

I hope that my addressing you in such a familiar way doesn't offend you. It's just that since I was maybe 3-5 years old, I've been drawn to Parrish, especially, "Daybreak," and I feel somehow those of us who are drawn to these lullabies on canvas share a special, unspoken bond.

I just wanted to truly thank you for the work, love and dedication that went into constructing your site, so that you might share Maxfield's wonders. I've learned and seen so very much. Your site seems to be the only one committed, as several of the links are now dead.

I have one Parrish poster that I haven't seen in your gallery or any other. It came from TJ Maxx (is definitely Parrish). It is somewhat like "Evening" 1947, although, my poster appears to be afternoon and there's a small brook with a tree on the right bank. The cotton clouds are mirrored in the water. And there is a small mountain in the background.

I wrote a poem about "Daybreak" and would like to share it with you as a token of my thanks.

Maxfield Parrish - Daybreak

At times, I wish
I could just disappear
Drift some place soft
So far, far from here

The paintings of Parrish
Grace my poor walls
I escape to his world
With his brushstrokes soft calls

If only just once
I might touch his pure clouds
Or feels his sweet colors
Hear his shady, cool sounds

Some know him as Maxfield
He captured peace in his art
And since I was toddling
His “Daybreak” shines in my heart.

Copyright © May 30, 1995
Jill Maria Templeton

Thanks for your time. God Bless the World.

Warmly,
Jill Templeton
montana1_AT_bellsouth_DoT_net




24 October 1999

Hello..

I read your words about your discovery of Maxfield Parrish and remembered a time that I first saw his work. I was 24, living in Northern Ca by the ocean and a friend sent a book of his work. It was dreary and overcast when I opened the package that morning. But suddenly my world was filled with light and I was lost in his works.

Maxfield Parrish - Aquamarine Some time passed and I moved back to the San Francisco area and got lost in the day to day grind of working. Yet not a week went by that I did not leaf through that book or look for more information about this man. I kept the book on coffee table with Kahill Gibran (figuring anyone who liked both of them would be worth having as a friend). Over the years both books got packed away and I got lost in the corporate dance.

Years later spending a weekend in Carmel I visited some galleries and idled away an afternoon looking at what was new and what was old and being sold to the people who might have the money to buy. I walked into a Gallery and there were two of his paintings, small maybe 18 x 30 The Blue background, two young women in grecian attire. The price in 1988 was $11000. Anyway was way out of my budget.. but I have never forgot.. the hour spent staring at them or the afternoon visiting with the owner of that gallery and dreaming of owning them.

Maxfield Parrish - The Lute Players When people ask me my favorite artist I have always responded with his name and 60% of the time there is this blank look.. and I begin my quest to educate them and send them down the path of discovery. In 95 I moved to Alaska wanting to do some writing and lived very remote (70 miles form the nearest store, town or fuel) on Prince of Wales Island in small community (55 in a 15 mile area) called Whale Pass.

One day while I was out walking by the bay a truck drove up and an old man who lived very far out stopped and we sat talking about the normal bush things, when the salmon would run, when the floatplane would drop off mail etc. The sun had pushed west and was hitting some alder trees in a wonderful way and I pointed it out to him and he said --- yes, it's like seeing it through Maxfield Parrish's eyes when the sun does that.

Well needless to say you know what the rest of our two hour converstion was about and that we became fast friends. In the middle of nowhere (somewhere to me) I met a delightful person who touched my soul and shared more knowledge with me. You have done the same and I want to thank you.

Donna "Kasey" Farley
shescalledkc_AT_frontiernet_DoT_net
Seattle, Washington

 

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