This portrait of Mary Blair was created for the Society of Illustrators' Artist Illustrating Artist Show (Spring 2015). She is one of my idols!!! Her work has a great sense of color, charm and appeal that just pops off the page.
Mary Blair is best known for her paintings for the Walt Disney Animation Studio. She worked on classic films like Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Peter Pan.
Although Mary Blair worked mostly in gouache she also did paper cut art. So in honor of her I decided to use both paper and gouache in my portrait of her.
The whole piece measured 16"x 20". As part of it I made mini paper cuts of some of her classic pieces all measuring 2" x 3". This one is from Peter Pan.
I had a lot of fun trying to adapt a painting to paper cut. I found it tricky when some paintings are so gestural versus paper cut art which is best done using major colors and shapes. On the left is my adaptation of the original painting she created for Cinderella.
Alice in Wonderland is one of Blair's most beloved works. Also, "The Art and Flair of Mary Blair" by the amazing animator John Canemaker, is a must have on any artist's book self.
