list_text=          Mary Poppins glides through the air holding an umbrella. Fifty chimney sweeps dance over the rooftops of London. Captain Nemo pilots his submarine, the Nautilus, 20,000 leagues under the sea. Such Disney moments and more were created by Peter Ellenshaw, special-effects artist, matte painter and production designer.
          A renowned sea and landscape artist, his paintings look real enough to step into and the story of how Peter first became interested in art is about as dramatic as his paintings. Born in London in 1913, Peter was raised in the town of Essex, which was in the path of the German zeppelins during World War I. As he once recalled, "My mother put us (Peter and his two sisters) under the kitchen table while the zeppelins were overhead and gave us pencils and paper to draw with" and an artist was born.
          Because of his father's death in World War I, Peter was forced to leave school at age 14 to help support his family. While working as a grease monkey in a garage, he pursued his artwork and soon met matte artist Walter Percy Day. Before long, Day offered the young artist a job in film and Peter went on to work on Alexander Korda's "Things to Come," Michael Powell's "Stairway to Heaven" and Mervyn LeRoy's "Quo Vadis," as well as "The Thief of Baghdad," "The Red Shoes" and "Spartacus."
          Peter first met Walt Disney in 1948, when Walt began production of his first all live-action motion picture "Treasure Island" in England. Intrigued by Peter's artistry, Walt personally chose him to recreate scenes of long-ago England on painted backgrounds for the film.
          Later, when planning Jules Verne's classic "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Walt brought Peter to Hollywood to work on the film, which won an Oscar for best special effects in 1955. Ten years later, Peter won his own Academy Award for his work in "Mary Poppins." As a matte artist, he contributed to such films as "Pollyanna" and "Swiss Family Robinson" and he was also responsible for production design on "Johnny Tremain." In addition, Peter contributed to the special photographic effects of "Darby O'Gill and the Little People," served as production designer on "Island at the Top of the World" and as art director on "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." In all, Peter contributed to more than 30 Disney feature films.
          A collection of his breathtaking art was published in 1996, The Garden Within:  The Art of Peter Ellenshaw, which inspired the wildly-popular Winnie the Pooh in the Garden series of Disney collectibles and merchandise.&