Twenty-one years later in 1978, Katherine Ainsworth in her biography of John W. Hilton entitled "The Man Who Captured Sunshine," stated in a footnote that this same painting had been donated to the Eisenhower Memorial Hospital in Palm Desert, California by Mamie Eisenhower.

But in March of 2009, based on the footnote in Katherine Ainsworth's biography, we asked the Eisenhower Hospital where the painting could be viewed. At that time, after head scratching searches, they could not locate the painting.

Now, in November 2009, the missing painting has turned up. It turns out that Katherine Ainsworth footnote written thirty-one years ago was based on inaccurate information. A source who who contacted our gallery but has chosen to remain anonymous has established that this painting is and has been in several private East Coast Collections since 1961. Collectors and interested parties, please stay tuned. We'll let you know if this former White House painting becomes available.

at Walt's suggestion. drew freely from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite.

But the grand achievement of mixing animation and classical music remains Fantasia. The film begins with Leopold Stokowski directing an animated silhouetted orchestra in Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, followed by animated segments, one with Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas, another with changing seasons to the music of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, and others based on Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, and Stravinky's Rite of Spring. Today, Fantasia remains unparalleled in its use of classical music, and remains a high point in blending sound and animation.

The evening at Davies Symphony Hall drew a full house of music lovers, many of whom were children. Disney family members were acknowledged and applauded for their gift of the Walt Disney Family Museum and support of the San Francisco Symphony. Famed Broadway soloist Lisa Vroman sang several original tunes, such as A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes and Some Day My Prince Will Come. The audience gave a warm welcome for Edwin Outwater, former San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor 2001 - 2006. Today he serves as Music Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Ontario, Canada.

Then in another display case were the drawings from the MGM film Forbidden Planet and some others from Disney films such as Fantasia: Night on Bald Mountain, Bambi, Cinderella. Josh was loaned to MGM for the 1956 Forbidden Planet project, which was nominated for an Oscar in special effects.

There are currently plans to establish an Arts Park next to the Tennessee Williams Home in Columbus. (Tennessee Williams is another of Columbus' favorite sons.) Part of the park will include moving the garage from the Meador family home. There, along with an added structure, some copies of Josh's sketchwork will be on permanent display. The rest of the facility will function as a gallery celebrating local artists in the Columbus area.

You too may participate
Cloud Patterns by Joshua Meador
is to be raffled off on NOVEMBER 7, '09
Raffle Tickets cost $50 each
Only 290 are being sold!
Tickets are available
from Columbus, MS historian Rufus Ward.
Email Rufus Ward at RU204@aol.com
Checks are to be made out to
Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation
and mailed to
Rufus Ward
204 Travis Street
West Point, Mississippi 39773

Cloud Patterns is a stunning desert scene showing Walt Disney's Palm Springs home in the foreground against the dramatic mountain backdrop of the California Desert.

This work was one of a group of paintings done by Josh at the request of Walt Disney, and once hung in his Palm Springs home.

Cloud Patterns 24 x 34
click on image to see an enlarged version

Four Artists Paint One Tree
is available on DVD.
It on the second disk of
the two-DVD Platinum Edition recent release
of the Disney Film Sleeping Beauty

100 years ago -- Artist William Keith is badgered by the SF Call
for an unfinished portrait of Mr. E. H. Harriman
In the following article, the San Francisco Call badgers William Keith,
wanting to know if he would complete the painting after the death of the railroad mogul.

As he was one of the railroad "robber barons" of the late 19th century, much has been written about the life and dealings of Mr. E. H. Harriman, including perhaps the most famed fictional reference in the 1968 Paul Newman and Robert Redford film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. wherein a loyal E.H.Harriman employee resists giving up his employer's loot to the train robbers.

But factually, he included San Francisco painter William Keith among his closest friends. At the end of his life, Mr. Harriman completed two portrait sittings for Keith, but the painting remained unfinished when Mr. Harriman died in 1909. William Keith pondered what to do, but Keith died soon afterward in 1911 and, to the best of our knowledge, the portrait remained unfinished. Does anyone know to the contrary?

News from the SF art world 100 years ago ...

Will it be disinterred from among Keith's uncompleted canvases? Will it be taken from the shelf and worked up from memory? Or will it be dragged into the light of day and given a decent burial? These are a few of the questions which are agitating the local art world, questions to which Keith himself can give no definite answer.

When approached on the subject yesterday, Keith was noncommittal. "I haven't made up my mind what to do with it," he said. "I suppose I shall have to do something some day, and I might just as well finish it, but I can not say definitely. It is here half done on my hands. What I shall eventually do about it I don't know."

In the midst of his busy career it seems that Harriman was able to devote only two sittings altogether to the work on his portrait, which, moreover, is a breach of the profession not usually included in Keith's list of regular work. Hence, with hindrance on both sides, the work was slightly handicapped from the start. Those who have seen it as it now stands pronounce it excellent as far as It goes, and predict that if it had been completed it would have done ample justice to artist and sitter. It was not finished, however, and so the public curiosity has been aroused: as to whether Harriman's widow will come forward and claim it, whether the pride of producing a finished portrait will urge Keith on to greater efforts, or whether the matter will be no further pursued!

The Irvine Museum is presenting "Selections from The Irvine Museum, 2009" through February 13, and is including works by Anna Althea Hills 1882-1930, Paul DeLongpré 1855 - 1911, John Marshall Gamble 1863 - 1957, Edgar Alwin Payne 1883 - 1947, and John Hubbard Rich 1876 - 1954. After its initial exhibition at the Irvine Museum, the exhibit will visit museums throughout the state.

Anna Althea Hills was an heroic artist. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, she could often be found lecturing throughout her Orange County home locale. She championed art education and encouraged the study of the visual arts at the local public schools. For Anna, art was the center of community life. She was a founding member of the Laguna Art Association, and served as its president from 1922 to 1925 and again from 1927 to 1930. She worked endlessly raising funds for the association and later for the Laguna Art Museum, and promoting the association's member artists. She also had a reputation as an excellent painting teacher. Among her students was famed California desert painter Orpha Klinker, who is known for several series of of paintings depicting the California Missions.

Anna's impressionist and atmospheric watercolors and oils exhibited a deep reverence of nature. Often hampered by chronic spinal back pain, she would still manage to paint plein air. She accompanied painting friends on excursions - including George Brandriff and Edgar Payne. Her subjects ranged from

During her lifetime, she received honors for her art, including the Bronze Medal at the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, in 1915; the Bronze Medal at the California State Fair, 1919; and the Landscape Prize at the Laguna Beach Art Association, 1922, 1923. Tragically, she died young at age 48. Upon her death, a plaque was placed at the Laguna Art Museum, praising her for her dedication and promotion of the arts in the Laguna Beach Community. Forty-four years after her death, the Laguna Beach Art Association sponsored an exhibition of her work in 1974. Her paintings hang in the Laguna Art Museum and the Irvine Museum, the Fleischer Museum, and the Orange County Museum.

Galileo before the Holy Office, a 19th century painting
by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury at the Luxembourg Museum

Photo of Pope Benedict with physicist Stephen Hawking. Hawking was an invited guest when the Pontifical Academy of Sciences hosted a week-long gathering from October 31 to November 3, 2008, exploring the theme: "Scientific Insights into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life."

The Vatican Museums | Back to the Top

On a personal note , I must confess, that while in Paris, Linda and I visited a McDonalds. It occurred during an exhausting day walking about the city. We were near the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees, and found ourselves standing in front of the ubiquitous golden arches. We dropped in for a large soda, sat down to rest our throbbing feet, and restored our fluids. Once refreshed, we were on our sight seeing way.

And so it may be for thousands of people, gazing their way through the Louvre's galleries, needing a moment to rest weary