Impression Evergreen

"Days of Glory" Colored Pencil Drawing It’s the early 1900s and Bridgeport, Nebraska is a fledgling community basking in the sunshine of its glory days. The town is known as “Trail City, USA” because it sits on or near many trails of the Old West including the Oregon, California, Mormon, Pony Express and Sidney-Black Hills trails. Back in 1876, Henry T. Clarke built a bridge across the North Platte River just three miles upstream from the current site of Bridgeport. This overpass improved the link between Sidney and the booming, gold-mining settlements in the Black Hills. The exchange of goods and precious metals between the two regions flourished for about a decade. During that time a loose-knit medley of early settlers established Camp Clarke, a small village located near the river. The actual town of Bridgeport was officially founded as a railway station by the Burlington Railroad in 1900. After the coming of the trains, the population increased dramatically and in 1...

"Dragon Duel" Colored Pencil "Riddles my weapons. Answers my shield. Though you battle with wit, I'll never yield." Slowly the clamped teeth loosened. The watching dragons collectively sighed in disappointment. But the confrontation was not over. "My wit is quite sharp," responded the leader, "as sharp as my claws and teeth. One wound means your life as surely as this battle will. "And if my riddle wounds you?" asked Strange One. "You and your servant leave here alive. You, as an unnatural dragon, are outcast and banished from the gatherings forever..." My friend, Cindy Schuricht, asked me to illustrate the preceding passage for the cover of her new book, Secrets of the Flame - The Power to Protect . Considered a magical fantasy the story is categorized as juvenile fiction. Written in a whimsical format, Secrets teaches us the hard truth about letting go. In the tradition of an American fable, this tale spotlights th...

"Bald Eagles" Colored Pencil Birds have inhabited the earth for 160 million years. Incredibly, they represent a direct link to the last dinosaurs. Since the dawn of civilization, birds and their spectacular gift of flight have fascinated humans. The sheer diversity of their appearance, behavior and personality is astonishing. Prehistoric peoples featured them in culture as birds were often depicted symbolically in early cave paintings. It seems like artists have always appreciated their beauty because birds have appeared in masterpieces throughout the history of art. Today, seeing birds has become so common and their songs so familiar, that sometimes their true existence is taken for granted. Avid birders now use high-powered binoculars and cameras to document rare sightings and check off life-lists. Their field guides are beautifully illustrated with great precision by talented draughtsmen, who meticulously render each and every feather. My artistic style is realist b...

"The World is Yours" Colored Pencil It's a mysterious scene. A man and a woman on a secluded, tropical beach. Turquoise blue water and a clear blue sky serve as a backdrop. Something dramatic is happening. The woman is desperately clutching his leg as if pleading "Please don't go!" We see only the man's back. His attention seems focused on the oil rig platform out in the distance. Why is he clutching a black pistol? It looks like something out of a romance novel. That's because it is! I finished the cover for Tye DiPirro's new book The World is Yours . I'm not exactly sure what the story is about but Tye gave me a description of how he wanted the cover to look. I don't have much experience with book illustration so my strategy was to have everything worked out before I started on the final drawing. I gathered lots of reference material and made several line and color studies. By spending the majority of time on preliminary work I wa...

Value and color studies for the romance novel cover An aspiring writer asked me if I would be interested in illustrating a book cover. He said he had just finished writing a novel and was working on getting it published. My first thought was I don't have time . I'm a production artist for a printing company by day but my nights are reserved for more fine artistic pursuits. I guess you could call me a "Sunday Painter". Time is precious but I was curious. I asked him what the book was about. He enthusiastically exclaimed, "It's a Romance Novel!" There was a division between the two sides of my brain and they were battling it out. The logical, left side said, "You can't do it! It's too difficult! Don't leave your comfort zone!" The cool, right side responded, "Chill, bro. We got this. Dude, try something exciting and new. It'll be fun." After the dust cleared, I guess surfer guy won because I accepted the commis...