Artist Mary Jo Hinton Gnagy carried both the burden and the blessing of marriage to another artist, one who was a powerful personality and a well-known television performer. As a result. she spent her productive years working mostly with and for her beloved Jonnie. Never seeking recognition, Mary Jo elected not to fulfill her own enormous promise as a figure artist, illustrator, cartoonist, and calligrapher. Yet, it should be noted, Jon Gnagy's still-popular art instruction books are in fact collaborations, since Mary Jo's work is seen in all the figure illustrations and close-up hands and faces, as well as in much of the layout and lettering. She enhanced his work with her own special gifts.

Like Jon Gnagy, Mary Jo was without formal training, yet she mastered her preferred tools for portraying family and friends -- and herself -- with a keen eye, gentle wit, and fine hand; her expressive drawings speak volumes, She was never far from a pencil and sketch pad; she left us hundreds of observant comments about people and events in her wide experience.

Mary Jo drew with pencil, pen or brush and ink, with equal skill. She deftly highlighted some of her spontaneous figure sketches with watercolor wash and painted her finished illustrations with polish and precision. She sold a few greeting cards, and now and then a spot drawing, or took on a small commercial job, but hers was principally private art. 

Mary Jo was casual about her work; as a result, too many were given away or discarded. Fortunately, Jonnie, her greatest fan, quietly collected many of his Sunny Girl's drawings, rescuing scraps of paper from flies and wastebaskets; in 1977, he surprised her with three large albums of "Mary Jo's Sketches.' The few reproduced in her sketchbook offer a glimpse of her remarkable talent.

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to enjoy some of Mary Jo’s Sketches