At 90, a famed La Conner animation artist and painter still knows how to draw a crowd.

On Zoom as well as at the easel.

Bob Abrams, fondly known around town as the “Disney Artist,” was feted with a special on-line birthday reception Friday that drew well-wishers from near and far.

The virtual event, which extended beyond two hours as Abrams reflected upon his remarkable career, was coordinated by Rebecca Strong of The Lux Art Center on Lopez Island.

Strong met Abrams when she managed a gallery here prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. She now exhibits and helps market Abrams’ work, which he still produces in his La Conner home at the outset of his 10th decade.

“One of the best moves I made,” said Abrams, a western Pennsylvania native who became a fixture in southern California, “was to La Conner. I’ve met so many wonderful people.”

A slew of them, including Mayor Ramon Hayes and his wife, Heidi, and Town Council member MaryLee Chamberlain, took part in what was Abrams’ inaugural Zoom session.

“All the new stuff they’ve come up with is amazing,” Abrams said. “I come from a time when there was no TV, no internet, no nothing. Just radio. I love this form of communicating. It’s absolutely wonderful.”

Thanks to technology, Abrams was able to speak and reminisce at length with friends and family from around the country. He shared memories as vivid as the images he creates.

Growing up at the height of the Great Depression, Abrams possessed an inquisitive mind and natural talent for illustration. Those assets helped him cope with a childhood fall that briefly confined Abrams to a wheelchair. He passed time by drawing.

Abrams so enjoyed illustrating that he wrote Disney Studios about going to work for them.

“I got a letter back that said when I got out of school that I should go out to California and visit them,” Abrams said.

He took the Disney people at their word. After completing studies at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and serving a stint in the U.S. Navy – when losing a coin flip spared him deployment on a minesweeper that was later sunk in a collision with an aircraft carrier – Abrams headed for Burbank.

“I went to the Disney Studios and reminded them that they owed me an interview,” he quipped. “They hired me.”

At Disney, Abrams said he was tutored by the nation’s finest animators.

“From them,” he said, “I learned a lot of things about art that nobody knows. I received a complete education at Disney.”

Abrams thus was well prepped to branch out into the fine arts. While in California, he attended the Art Center in Los Angeles and college and university campuses for courses in advertising art design, cinematography, and film editing. He also earned a teaching credential from UCLA.

Strong said Abrams’ career as an artist spanned the Golden Age of Hollywood animation, from 1955-1970. In addition to Disney, he worked with such giants in the industry as Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. and Bob Clampett Productions, generating an extensive filmography including work on

“Sleeping Beauty,” Yogi Bear,” “The Jetsons,” “Paul Bunyan,” “Mr. Magoo,” “The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Hour” and “Beany and Cecil.”

During that time, Abrams recalled, he was summoned to do an album cover by the brilliant though tortured record producer Phil Spector, who earlier this month died in prison as a convicted murderer.

“I guess you can say I’ve known some pretty strange characters in my time,” said Abrams.

Rarely has there been a dull moment, he stressed, looking back on a path that took him to the major studios, college lecture halls and membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“All my life, I wanted to draw,” Abrams said. “I didn’t think it would end up the way it has.”

His artistic education continued upon landing in La Conner, said Abrams. He was influenced by numerous local artists, including the late Bert McCabe, a noted watercolorist.

“I’ve never stopped learning,” Abrams said.

These days, his focus for subject material has Abrams gazing skyward.

“I love birds,” he said. “I’ve studied and researched them a lot. I’m also really into space.”

Whatever Abrams sees, he commits to memory.

“We were blessed with two sets of eyes,” he explained. “We have eyes that we see things with. And then we have our mind’s eye. I paint from my mind’s eye rather than being a location painter.”

Abrams has shifted seamlessly from oils to watercolors to acrylics. A prolific painter, he always manages to have at least 20 pieces available at a given time for Strong to market.

“Bob,” she said, “is an amazing person. He’s so easy and delightful to work with.”

COVID-19 has limited Abrams’ outings over the past year. He has let his whiskers grow in and his hair is pulled back in a long ponytail. Despite the pandemic, though, he has still managed to get out just enough to mentally file new scenes to paint.

“

I can be on my way someplace and I’ll see something,” he said, “and it will stay in my mind.”

Then it is back to Abrams’ apartment, which doubles as his studio. There, joined by his paunchy black-and-white cat, Sylvester, named for the popular Looney Tunes cartoon character, Abrams makes magic with the brush strokes that define his unique style and have won him a loyal fan base.

“It’s nice,” he said, “to be able to do things that make people happy.”

An avid golfer, Abrams not only keeps score on the links, but also stays abreast of the latest innovations in animation.

“It used to take three years to do an animated film,” he said. “Today they can do three in a year with the computer technology they have.”

But when it comes to his own art, Abrams prefers a time-honored approach.

“Today,” he said, “it’s a different way of doing things. I still do it the old way.”

Abrams has no plans to change anytime soon.

“As long as I can paint and play golf,” Abrams said, “I’m in good shape.”