WONDERFUL ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR VALENTINE. About 8 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ sight size. 14″ x 11″ overall. Beautiful original watercolor of two anthropomorphic rabbits, one of which is painting a valentine card readin g “TO MY / VALENTINE / I LOV / YOU, ” while the other peers from behind the card. Signed lower right MAURICE DAY. Maurice “Jake” Day descended from a long line of shipbuilders who settled in Damariscotta, Maine. A prolific artist, sculptor, photographer, and naturalist, his work showed his passion for Maine’s landscapes and creatures. Also known as “Jake, ” and “colonel of Jake’s Rangers”, he and his band of local sportsmen were central characters in many of Edmund Ware Smith’s hunting and fishing stories. E attended the Massachusetts College of Art, where he studied painting and drawing. Later, he transferred to the school of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and graduated in 1915. His art career was interrupted twice by military service, first serving on the Mexican border with an artillery unit, and later with the Naval Camouflage Department. He painted for the National and Maine Audubon societies, was an editorial cartoonist for the Maine Sunday Telegram, and was employed by numerous advertising agencies. In 1938, Jake, his wife, Bea, and sons, Mc Clure and Richard, left Maine and traveled to Laguna Beach, California, where his art caught the attention of the Harmon-Ising Studio. That job led to his employment by several other top studios including Walt Disney, MGM, and Hanna Barbara. While working for the Disney studio, Jake convinced Walt Disney that Bambi should be a white-tailed and not a mule deer. During production, Disney commissioned Jake and his closest friend, Lester Hall, to photograph the flora and fauna in the Katahdin region for the upcoming movie. As a result, many of the scenes and wildlife in Bambi are from the Baxter Park area. Signature clear (all visible in the images). A LOVELY ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR BY ONE OF MAINE’S MOST BELOVED ARTISTS.
