Recess

Like all baleen whales, the humpback finds its dinner among the small shrimp-like creatures known as krill. The baleen doesn’t hunt so much as graze through enormous schools of krill, moving through the krill open-mouthed and then trapping the krill in the ridges on the roofs of their mouths.

“Famous for their dramatic leaps and vocal symphonies, humpbacks have provided excitement to thousands of whale watchers, especially around Hawaii,” said Peter Parnall. The 2016 fine art edition series of Parnall’s humpback whales offer a range of formats and emotions from "Humpback Whale’s" joyous vertical leap to the deceptively simple playful splashes of "Recess," and finally the intimacy of "The Singers," a pair of humpbacks who have found a safe corner of their own under the sea.

Peter Parnall has illustrated over eighty books and was awarded a Caldecott Honor for three of them including The Way to Start a Day and Hawk, I’m your brother. Parnall published his first of many fine art editions with the Greenwich Workshop in 1972. It is a testament to his innate talent and graphic sensibility that his work looks fresh and exciting forty years later. Among the highlights in his long career, he mentions “knowing the people smile once in a while when they see my prints.”