ARTIST VITAE THE ELLENSHAWS, FATHER AND SON COLLABORATION by Sarah Seamark Father and son artists, Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw, have found a unique way to collaborate on paintings while also pursuing independent artistic paths. Both are known for their work for the Walt Disney Company, most recently for Collectors Editions’ Disney Fine Art program. Born in 1913 in London, England, Peter Ellenshaw showed artistic ability from an early age. Through a difficult childhood, his father’s death, his mother remarrying and the family moving to cramped quarters on a constricted income, Peter retained this interest. At the age of 14, while working as an auto mechanic, he met a local artist who would later not only mentor him in painting on canvas but in painting on glass to create matte backgrounds for film. The relationship with Percy Day, a legend in pioneering visual effects for film, was one of mentor-apprenticeship as Ellenshaw began working alongside him doing the visual effect work for studios. After serving his country as an RAF pilot in World War II, Peter Ellenshaw began working for MGM before receiving a call from Walt Disney Studios to work on its film Treasure Island. His partnership with Disney lasted over 30 years, earning him five Oscar nominations. Over those years he got to know Walt Disney well. Bobbie, Peter’s wife of 58 years who is now deceased, would give Walt dinner, often roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, one of his favorites. “Those were happy days,” Peter recalls. “If I had not married someone like Bobbie, I would not have been so peaceful.” Today, he still lives in the home they shared in Santa Barbara, CA, overlooking the ocean. At the age of 92, he continues to swim in his pool early each morning and then spends as much as six or eight hours in his studio. His interest at the moment is painting the roses that he gathers from his garden. Sometimes he photographs them so they always bloom fresh on his canvas. But it was on the Disney work that he and Harrison began to collaborate. “My father was doing a painting of Peter Pan for Collectors Editions’ Disney Fine Art program. He had almost completed it when he asked if I would like to finish the details, and so I did. We love the Disney characters, they are very close to us and we know them very well,” he adds. When the two collaborate, Peter usually lays out the work and Harrison adds the figures and all the detail required of an exact replica of a Disney character. “He does-n’t have the patience for that,” Harrison says with a laugh. However, Harrison himself is recognized in his own right not only as an artist but also as a writer of screenplays and director of independent films. He has made a documentary on his father and plans one on Percy Day. “We are losing a great deal of information as time passes, so I am trying to preserve the past so that people remember what it was like way back when.” And, too, he has worked as a visual effects artist on many famous movies—Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Black Hole. It began when, after graduating from Whittier College with a BA in psychology he found it hard to get a job. “I remember driving with my father one day,” he recalls, “and he said, 'Just for the time being, if you are interested, the matte department at Disney is looking for apprentices.’” The department head was Alan Maley, who worked as a matte artist with his father in years past. He became Harrison’s mentor, “and I really got bitten by the film bug. It was Alan who showed me what was so special about film—about matte paintings—how your work on shots could be an integral part of telling a story.” Harrison began to carve his own career path, away from his father, adding his touch to Tron, one of the most visually stunning films ever, and also to Captain Eo, Superman IV, Ghost, and Dick Tracy. At the same time, he was also doing some fine art painting. He became interested in the Fauve artists, such as Matisse and Derain, and the intense colors they used, not found in nature. “I enjoy doing things that are really colorful,” he says. Harrison, who has a grown son and daughter, lives and works in Fallbrook, south of LA, yet within reach of his father. As for the collaboration, which still continues with Peter, he admits he finds it more difficult than working on his own paintings. “I don’t want to screw up. If it’s mine, I can go back and fix it. But when it comes to his work, I agonize over it.” It has not been easy for Harrison to follow in Peter’s footsteps. “I was drawn to art because of my father, but at the same time, I resisted because it is very intimidating when you live with a man who is so talented and dedicated to what he does, and works so hard.” Yet there are so many shared opinions. “I enjoy going to museums and galleries with my father. He will walk into a room and point toward a picture that he admires—and we always seem to agree.” And, interestingly, neither father or son finds painting easy. Here, Harrison follows his father’s advice. “I solve any problems in my sleep, letting my subconscious take care of them— and when I return to my easel in the morning, I know what to do—just as my father said.” Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw’s work is represented by Collectors Editions, Canoga Park, CA, in its Fine Art and Disney Fine Art programs. Peter’s acrylics on canvas sell in the $70,000 range; Harrison’s in the $20,000 to $50,000. Their limited edition giclées on canvas and hand-embellished giclées on canvas sell for $800 to $1,700. Call (800) 736-0001, www. c o l l e c t o r s editions.com. “Dunloe Gap” by Peter Ellenshaw, a giclée in an edition of 75 with an image measuring 48 by 30 inches. “Gotham Night” by Harrison Ellenshaw, a giclée in an edition of 95 with an image measuring 30 by 24 inches. “We Can Fly,” a collaboration of Peter and Harrison Ellen-shaw for Collectors Editions Disney Fine Art program. Harrison and Peter Ellenshaw. PAGE 40 ART WORLD NEWS

Previous Page | Next Page