Peter Parnall

About Peter ParnallMost people know Peter Parnall through the more than ninety books he illustrated. His original paintings are in the private collections of hundreds of fans, and his work was published by The Greenwich Workshop®, Inc. in the 1970s.

Born in Syracuse, he moved to California, Texas, New Jersey and finally Maine. Parnall is easygoing, quick and perceptive but when the talk turns to art, he becomes serious. “I feel good about my work. But I have very few feelings toward work I’ve done . . . only toward work I’m about to do. It should always be somewhat experimental; if it isn’t, then nothing is being created. To continue with an existing style, in my case, is to stagnate. I have to invent something new.”

Peter’s art is powerful in a pure design sense, and when it comes to animals, which is often, he has an absolute fetish for accuracy. “In the case of my nature pictures,” he says, “I am trying to bring them into a more contemporary realism. Painting a flaming maple tree or a darting mink is a futile and worthless task. Only those impressionists and abstract artists who lend something personal to an experience, advance the arts and are true creators.”

Parnall’s books have been published by all the leading publishing houses including Doubleday, McGraw-Hill, Little Brown & Co., Viking, Scribners, Pantheon, Simon & Schuster and Random House.