The Art of Mary Blair

The good folks at Drawn! The Illustration Blog (see link under "Links" in the sidebar) recently alerted me to the wonderful artwork of Amanda and Michelle of Girls Productions (see also under "Links") ...they're going to be part of an exhibit of Disney-inspired art at Gallery Nineteen-Eighty-Eight soon, and some of that reminded me of the glorious concept art done by the late Mary Blair during her many years at Disney.

I'm just posting two examples here... there's an excellent site featuring her work here http://www.bobstaake.com/artists/maryblair/page1.html

First pic is (obviously, isn't it?) concept art for Cinderella, while the second one was for Johnny Appleseed. Walt Disney had great respect for Mary's art, especially her color styling, and she was influential in the design of several Disney films, most notably Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Peter Pan. Later, her enduring contribution to the Disney theme parks was the design for the It's A Small World attraction (and no, she didn't have anything to do with THAT song).