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Joshua Meador 1911-1965

You have enjoyed Joshua Meador's work before. Josh was one of the favored stable of artists who worked for Walt Disney. Beginning in 1936, he participated in a long list of Disney productions. He was most proud of the water effects in Cinderella, Bambi, and the fire and bubbling mud scenes in the "Rite of Spring" in Fantasia. He also was part of a team winning a special effects Oscar for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Josh's wife Libby Meador reports that Josh loved working for Disney. Read more at the bottom of this page.
	Below ... Josh painting a tree, part of the Walt Disney short film, "Four Men Paint a Tree," first televised in 1958, featurig Josh, Marc Davis, Eyvind Earle, and Walt Paragoy painting the same live oak in four different artistic styles.	Joshua Meador Links Link to the Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Joshua Meador Show October 2007 Click here for info of the recently announced Disney Family Museum to be located in San Francisco's Presidio. Click here for a PDF file of the Joshua Meador Catalogue "The California Vision of Joshua Meador" Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery November 24 - 26, 2006
	Left Top ... "Self Portrait," courtesy of the Meador family. Bottom left ... Josh with his ever present sketch pad. Right ... Josh with seaside easel and palette knife at Garrapata State Park south of Carmel, CA.

Available paintings

"Warming in the Sun"	Coastal Rocks and Crashing Waves	"Riverbed"
"Mood Indigo" Disney Collection courtesy of the Meador family	"Glacier"	Duncans Mills
"Hill Village" 1951	"Pier at Monterey"	"Cloud Patterns" Disney Collection courtesy of the Meador family
"Caspar Point" (N of Mendocino) courtesy of the Meador family	"Bodega Dock"	"Bodega Pier" Bodega Bay courtesy of the Meador family
"Sheep Ranch" Mendocino courtesy of the Meador family	"Palm Spring"	"A Clear Crispy Day"
"Pow Wow" Disney Collection courtesy of the Meador family	"Colts"	De Regreso
"Remote"	"Andreas Canyon" Palm Springs, Disney Collection courtesy of the Meador family	"Sea of Sand"
"Far Beyond" Disney Collection courtesy of the Meador family	Studio Still Life courtesy of the Meador family	Sierra Cabin Bishop
"The Golden Day"	"Quaking Aspens"	"El Patio de San Miguel"
Sandpipers	Estuary Seabirds	Woodland Stroll

Sold

"Beach at Morro" Morro Bay	"Stewart's Point"	"Sousa's Cove" (S of Carmel)
Sierra Retreat	"Homeward Bound"	"Forest Primeval"
"Castaway"	"Village in the Valley" Cambria Pines	Red Barn

But for Josh, Disney was his job, painting was his passion. Today, he is known primarily for his striking landscapes. When the work week at Disney was done, weekends were often spent with the family station wagon pulling a teardrop trailer, and off the family would go. Josh's son Philip reports that he and Libby would go off on long walks while Josh would take the family dog off somewhere and paint. Besides companionship, the dog protected Josh's concentration from startling interruptions from occasional passers by, and protected Josh's paintings from some surprising errors.

His favored painting tool was the palette knife. He first sketched in his subject in the broadest sense with a brush and thinner on stretched fine-linen canvas. Then would switch to the palette knife to complete the painting. Later, in his La Crescenta studio, he would finalize and sign his work. Josh and Libby lived in La Crescenta, California, and were good friends of other nearby painters, among them some from the previous generation, Conrad and Mary Buff and Stephen Seymour Thomas.

Later in Josh's career, he did some notable commision pieces, one for Walt Disney's Smoke Tree Ranch near Palm Springs, one for Vandenburg Air Force Base at the beginning of the space race, a painting for President Lyndon Johnson when he was in office, and just prior to his death, he was commissioned to go aboard an aircraft carrier and paint returning Apollo astronauts.

Josh and Libby were high school sweethearts in Columbus, Mississippi. Both were quite bright. Josh received a nomination to attend the Naval Academy at Annapolis, but turned it down. He wanted to follow his passion and paint. After visiting New York and Pittsburg trying to find the right art school for him, he arrived at the Chicago Art Institute in 1931, the same year Josh and Libby were married. He studied illustration, painting, portraits, and etching. After graduation in 1935, Josh and Libby came to California where Josh applied and went to work for Walt Disney. Four years later, Philip was born, Josh continued working for Disney until 1960, making an agreement with Walt Disney that Josh would return from his studio for special projects. Back to top of the page.

Source: Conversation with Libby, Philip and Hilder Meador on the occasion of their visit to Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery, July 6, 2006, AskArt, Edan Hughes, Artists in California 1786 - 1940, 3d ed.; www.laughingplace.com/News-ID10019010.asp