Today's example (often referred to as "the Mark Twain poster") is all about the Frontierland river craft; the Mark Twain, the Keel Boats, and the Canoes. The Columbia would get it's own poster in 1958. How about that golden ochre color for the river? Pretty unusual, but it works. I went to some pains to make this look as close to the actual poster as possible. Two canoes are furiously racing each other in the wrong direction, each paddler wearing a genuine coonskin cap. I wear a cap made out of my neighbor's cat, but somehow folks don't find it so charming.
FYI, the wood texture in the foreground Keelboat is kind of interesting, achieved by the layering of different colors which were then covered with brown. The slight transparency of the brown ink added more dimension to those areas. In later printings, the Keelboat is a single brown without the subtleties. Pretty groovy, eh?
Yay!
ReplyDeleteLove these colorful works, they capture some of the joy I feel for the place (or ideas therein). Speaking of colorful, if we rode the Mark Twain swearing like sailors until our mouths need swabbing like a deck manned by a clutch of landlubber Hometown Buffet patrons, can we claim we're helping to provide some of the color to the exciting adventures the posters spoke of?
That is neat about the wood textures. I also think the sponged like edges of the smoke and the drawings of the water on the Twain's wheel are snazzy. :)
Yes, very cool indeed but remind me NOT to introduce you to my cat.
ReplyDeleteI think the river color is supposed to remind you of the color of the "muddy Mississississississppi" (Sorry, I was channeling the Emperor Claudius at a seance last night, and he hasn't quite "left the room" yet.)
ReplyDeleteIt's a good choice. After you use blue for the sky, and green for the Island, the only obvious choice is a light-toned burnt orange for the river. That's what Van Gogh tells me anyway.
Now, where'd I put my razor?
Indeed, the Mississippi was noted for it's dirty brown color.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, in low water years, the muddy river often became thick enough to plow. My great-great grandfather planted corn in the river early in a dry spring. It grew up as the thick muddy stream ran downhill and matured in time to arrive at the market in Council Bluffs for picking. The field was about a mile long and often wrapped around multiple turns of the river as it flowed.
I miss the farm.
JG
Chiana, the mere mention of Hometown Buffet makes me ill. Any food served beneath a sneeze guard.... ugh.
ReplyDeleteConnie, the cat in my hat died from natural causes.
Katella, how many blog commenters mention Claudius and his stutter? Not many I'll wager.
JG, I thought it was the Platte that you could plow? Or is that the one that was "too thick to drink, too thin to plow"?
Beautiful. Thanks for pointing out the detail about the Keelboat printing! Cool!
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether these posters capture the true "Spirit" of Disneyland, or if they just have that effect on us because we grew up looking at them. I'm going with...both!
@Major: I did a quick Google search of "Blog", "Claudius", "Stutter".
ReplyDeleteOddly, it's the same blog that flags returns for "abattoir" and "effluvia".
Obviously some sad-sack poster that wants to impress the world with big words.
I personally find such flâneurs outrés.
this poster is cool because its different from the others to me. it always reminds me of a page from a coloring book....
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing another of your treasures :)
LOL Major, it makes me happy that you know that Platte River reference.
ReplyDeleteThe plow story is from a childhood book and the river was either the Ohio or the Mississippi, although memory tells me the latter.
As I recall, it ended with the corn popping off the ears in the heat of the summer, somewhere near Arkansas and all of the local cattle saw the white flurry and froze to death thinking it was snow. Sounds like Pecos Bill or the like.
I love the posters. You promised a Pirates of the Caribbean poster some time back, is that waiting for a future post?
JG