This is one of a series I painted for a friend, Douglas Rees, who is also one of my favorite authors. It’s small—2.5 X 3.5 inches—and in walnut ink. I didn’t really have anything in mind when I sat down to paint this series, but this picture came out- an illustration of his book, Smoking Mirror: An Encounter with Paul Gauguin. It’s a pretty good book. But my favorite book of his is The Janus Gate: An Encounter with John Singer Sargent.
He also wrote Vampire High, a book about a bunch of high school vampires. Much, much better than Twilight, without all the bodice-ripping, steamy, non-sex and extended rape fantasy.