The big news for the weekend (aside from some shopping on Olvera Street in Downtown LA) was the late-but-appreciated wedding present for my wife. She is a huge Disney fan as you probably know. She used to have a collection of rare merchandise as well as original animation and theme park items that would have been the envy of even the most die-hard collectors. Unfortunately most everything was stolen a few years ago. All she has left are a handful of books and a nice collector piece here and there. In our collective lifetimes we could never hope to restore the collection that she once had, so little by little we are trying to build a new collection together.
The one piece of Disney art that she has always wanted and that has never been reproduced or made available is a painting of a red-haired pirate girl. The actual painting that is hanging in the Captain's Bar scene on the Pirate's of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland. It's the scene on the right side of the attraction after the second waterfall, opposite of the Captain's Quarters. The painting is in the shadows and a detail that is easily missed. Here are pics courtesy of DaveLand
The painting was done by animator and imagineering legend Marc Davis. Shelly, my gal, pointed it out to me on one of our first trips to Disneyland. She told me about how much she loved the painting and how it has never been reproduced. Even when she was on the Disney Parks Committee she could never convince any of the park reps or marketing people to reproduce the painting. They said it was too risque' for Disney. As luck would have it Marc and Alice Davis (the costume designer for PotC) became the godparents of her daughter. But even then Shelly was no where closer of getting a reproduction of the painting, or even a good picture to make a poster from.
I could tell that it meant a lot to her and began gathering as much information as I could on the piece. Thanks to the web I found the original concept sketches by Marc and even a great head-on shot of the painting. I decided that I would recreate the painting as best I could using Illustrator.
I spent two months before the wedding working on the art, when I wasn't working on other details for the wedding. Sadly I didn't finish the project in time and had to buy Shelly a back-up present instead, a Monorail playset which she also loved, but it certainly wasn't a present from the heart. I went ahead with the project and had it printed on canvas. My friend Trevor got me an amazing discount on the printing and made the job as large as their largest printer could go. Then my friend Marisol at Picture This Framing, just down the street from school, got me an amazing price on the frame.
The finished project was as close to scale to the original as I could get. It's about 5 feet by three feet in size. Marisol made sure to get the double frame detail right, red on the inside and actually matched the same gold frame on the outside. Although the colors pop more in my version and the edges aren't as soft, I'd like to think that the spirit of the original is there. I surprised my gal this weekend with it. I placed it at the head of our bed with the lights off in the room. I waited patiently for her to turn on the lights and get the surprise. She actually walked in and out of the room twice without noticing it, even after turning on the lights. I thought she was playing it super-cool! Anyhow she did finally notice it and started screaming. She's been loving it ever since. I was only grateful that this was a piece I could reproduce and something that would be very special to her. She'd been out of luck if she had wanted a sculpture instead...
What do you think of the finished piece? Is it something that you wouldn't mind hanging at home? Too risque' for Disney or is this the classic stuff you remember before political correctness took the fun out of the attraction? If you'd like a larger version for your computer check out my Deviant Art page.
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Awesome work, NoeV! Shelly knows she picked the right one (you!)
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