Artist Spotlight: Lisa Parker

Cool breezes and crisp fall smells are always fantastic this time of year, and I can’t get enough of the seasonal decor, including the hints of magic during the spooky season. So it is perhaps no surprise that I frequently turn to puzzles with art by a self-proclaimed “animal artist with a magical twist:” Lisa Parker! So many of Lisa Parker’s puzzles emanate those fall feelings that I love so much, and I found myself doing quite a few of them this year, including a few new releases.

I started with two puzzles by a new-to-me brand, Prime 3D Ltd, who makes lenticular puzzles with a very neat 3D effect. Lenticular puzzles have a different image when viewed from different angles (think planners and bookmarks popular in the 90s that make an annoying yet satisfying sound when you run your fingernail across them). With Prime 3D’s puzzles, the image is only slightly offset when viewed from a different angle, which creates the three dimensionality. It’s unfortunately impossible to capture in photos, but trust me when I say it made the butterflies really pop out in this 150-piece puzzle titled The Journey Home. If you click on the image it will take you the image on Puzzle Warehouse where you will see the butterflies I'm talking about :)

I recently had a bad experience with a lenticular puzzle from a different brand and was a bit unsure about this one, but I shouldn't have worried. I was so relieved that this puzzle was well constructed and that the image didn’t make my eyes cross while working on it! Although there were a lot of similar colors within the unicorns and also within the trees, the size of this puzzle meant it was nice and refreshing. 

Next I tried out the 500-piece Fairy Tale, also by Prime 3D. After building the border, I began with the cute little door and fairy, then moved on to the owl and the edge of the tree against the sky. At 500 pieces, I did spend a lot more time working through the dark colors, but it was nonetheless an enjoyable puzzle. I only wish my photos could do justice to the 3D effect! Prime 3D also offers another 500-piece puzzle with art by Lisa Parker, titled Hubble Bubble (a design also offered by Ceaco).

I completed another fabulous owl puzzle, The Astrologer in 1000 pieces by Cobble Hill. This puzzle was a lot more challenging because of all of those browns, and the feathers were particularly difficult to put together. But, like most of Lisa Parker’s artwork, there is a strong light source that casts some beautiful shadows. For this puzzle, that meant I was able to work from the darkest feathers to the lightest and push through. 

In addition to owls, unicorns, and fairies, Lisa Parker has also painted dragons (e.g. Spirit Dragons), wolves (e.g. Fairy Stories) and, most prominently, cats! Ceaco has released at least ten different puzzles with Lisa Parker’s cats in the Night Spirit line, and I love them all! If you have seen my previous artists spotlights (for example about Darrell Bush), you know I tend to acquire a lot of puzzles from artists I love, and Lisa Parker is no exception! Here are the Ceaco cat puzzles of hers I have picked up over the last few years.

I’ll dig into a few of these shortly, but pictured here are Spell Cats in the top row, Witchwood Express, Hubble Bubble, Purrlock Holmes, and Apothecary (also called Magic Emporium) in the middle row, and The Rusty Cauldron, The Witch’s Apprentice, Book of Shadows, and Cat in the Bath in the bottom row. I have now put together all of these puzzles and I just love how realistic the animals look and all the little details, like the labels on the books and jars.

Witchwood Express in 500 pieces is a new release for 2023, and it was so fun to put together! I loved the variety of colors in the luggage, and, because the cats didn’t take up too much real estate in the image, I wasn’t cursing about putting together all that fur. I also really liked lighting in the wisps of magic and how the light from the train illuminated the cats and luggage.

To finish up, I decided to tackle the 1500 piece Spell Cats, which has been sitting in my to-do for far too long. I found this to be a delightful puzzle and I would recommend it to folks thinking about taking on a 1500 piece puzzle for the first time. There were enough distinct colors and sections that it was fairly easy to sort and to pick a section to focus on. And even though there were several cats in the image, they had slightly different colorations so it was usually clear which cat those fur pieces belonged to. I know that putting together fur can sometimes be frustrating, but Lisa Parker’s fabulous and realistic illustrations combined with a clear light source—meaning some fur is highlighted and some is in shadow—means I don’t usually have a problem with building her cats. I actually found the feathers in the large owl above much more frustrating!

There are several more Lisa Parker cat puzzles out there, including Mad About Cats and Magical Montage, and you can rest assured that they are already on my wishlist! Lisa Parker has continued to produce wonderful and new cat and animal paintings, and I’m hopeful that Ceaco and other brands will continue to showcase them on puzzles! 

- Gail, @jiggies_and_gems