'What do you see in the circle?'
e-mail me at:
catch me on Facebook under "Swordwhale", and YouTube as "Swordwhale1"
The Journey is the Destination...
From a young age, other people's stories; in books, on film, in pictures, inspired me to imagine worlds beyond the one limited by the tidy farms and wooded hills of southcentral Pennsylvania. They also inspired me to go out and have a few real, grungy, sweaty, mosquito-bit, saddle-sored, paddle-blistered, tiger-noshed, owl-taloned, my-air-tank-is-redlining-at-ninety-feet adventures of my own. Flipper, Sea Hunt and Jaques Cousteau led me learn to dive. Fury of Broken Wheel Ranch, The Black Stallion, and Tornado (Zorro's trusty steed) led me to train my own wild black horse. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings inspired me to learn swordfighting, archery, camp rolled up in a wool cloak, and teach my patient half-Arabian gelding to work without saddle or bridle. Wrestling a (very small) tiger and extracting a recalcitrant barn owl named Barney from under a wildlife rehabber's fridge happened to me because Mowgli and Tarzan made living in the jungle look like so much fun. Even as an adult, Pirates of the Caribbean led me to spending Halloween on a pirate ship (technically, a privateer), and taking the helm (and painting the gun doors, and checking the bilges), watched over by a young sailor woman who had walked the same planks as Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. I hope my own stories, fiction or fact, illustrated or written, might inspire someone to have their own adventure, their own learning experience, and to reconnect with the world of wind, water, earth, and fire and other living things. That's why we're here.
What you'll find here: Illustration in a variety of styles focusing on natural world subjects, animals, outdoor pursuits, fantasy/faerie tale and myth, history, living history, and people involved in these. Photography of animals, natural world subjects, living history (and a lot of big boats with sails). Computer generated special effects (Photoshop), sometimes combined with illustration styles. Scrivenings, an ancient word for writing/storytelling. Specializing in the Young Adult (YA) fantasy genre. I'm working on: original characters and storyline in a multibook series which weaves together ancient mythic archetypes and modern kids on adventures in the natural world and sometimes in historical settings. Journeys are PDfs of various real-life adventures (photos and story); go have one of your own!
This site has a plethora of pages. The main ones can be accessed by clicking on the menu at the top of this page, or by clicking on the pictures below. Go to the bottom of this page to find out how to find the secret pages. Some pictures link to websites about the subject of the picture. Some pictures link to my photo albums on Facebook, or to a larger version of the picture. Read the tag that comes up as you slide the cursor over the picture.
If you want me to illustrate for you, smear paint on your wall, or teach a class, contact me at swordwhale@yahoo.com.
What you'll find here: Illustration in a variety of styles focusing on natural world subjects, animals, outdoor pursuits, fantasy/faerie tale and myth, history, living history, and people involved in these. Photography of animals, natural world subjects, living history (and a lot of big boats with sails). Computer generated special effects (Photoshop), sometimes combined with illustration styles. Scrivenings, an ancient word for writing/storytelling. Specializing in the Young Adult (YA) fantasy genre. I'm working on: original characters and storyline in a multibook series which weaves together ancient mythic archetypes and modern kids on adventures in the natural world and sometimes in historical settings. Journeys are PDfs of various real-life adventures (photos and story); go have one of your own!
This site has a plethora of pages. The main ones can be accessed by clicking on the menu at the top of this page, or by clicking on the pictures below. Go to the bottom of this page to find out how to find the secret pages. Some pictures link to websites about the subject of the picture. Some pictures link to my photo albums on Facebook, or to a larger version of the picture. Read the tag that comes up as you slide the cursor over the picture.
If you want me to illustrate for you, smear paint on your wall, or teach a class, contact me at swordwhale@yahoo.com.
Tradigital Illustration:
I didn't invent this term, but I've had fun with it: combining my photography with traditional media (watercolor, Prismacolor pencil) and painting directly on Photoshop.
Environmental Education
I've wrangled barfing vultures, biting otters and participated in the Great Emu Roundup (they're designed to shed lariats) as a volunteer for wildlife rehabbers, and a local county park. The park has allowed me to smear paint on their walls (and paid me well for it): here are a few examples of murals, educational posters, coloring book art and other works designed to connect people, especially kids, with the natural world.
Scrivenings (blog)
Random musings on art, nature, myth and faerie tale, Vikings, sled dogs, privateers, cats, wild horses or any other brain burp I may have.
Random Shots Across the Bow
Paddle This
In every culture where there are seals, there are legends of the seal folk who take off their sealskins to walk on land in human form. In some places, the whale folk take off their fins to walk on land... the fin becomes the boat. Like the scuba divers "sealskin" of wetsuit and scuba gear, the small, agile, efficient kayak reconnects us with Planet Water. You feel the wind, hear the cries of waterfowl, find the hidden nest, stare in wonder as fins surface an inch from your paddle, feel the bottom come up under you in the shallows. Like Horse, on land, the Kayak carried us on the Journey. Here are a few of my favorite random shots over the bow of my sea kayak, Makenuk's Fin. ("mak-eh-nuk" is a badly anglicized version of the Kwakiutl word for "orca").
Privateers and Pungies
My idea of a cruise ship is a wooden hull that creaks and talks to the waves, rigging that sings in the wind, great canvas wings spread on that wind and roaring on a reach, heeled till the cannons are drinking the sea. These are some of my favorite photos, shot mostly on the Chesapeake Bay, of privateers, colonial ships, pungies, skipjacks and other denizens of the Age of Sail. For more information on any of the ships, click on the ship's picture (here, or on the "random shots" page), that will open a window to the ship's website.
Playing With Water
I like to play on and in the water (scuba, snorkeling, kayaking, occasionally hitching a ride on something larger with a wooden hull, canvas sails and cannons). For years I've played with the simplest, and most complex of art media: watercolor. Here's a look...
Portraits of Animals Who Share Your Life
When you want more than just one more digital photo...
crayons, colored pencils, and other high tech tools
Although watercolor and tradigital are my favorite media, I sometimes use other media; Prismacolor pencils, pastels, crayons, even squashed rocks. Here's a few examples.
art class
So, you flunked art class in school, not to worry, there're no grades here, just some suggestions, ideas, and how-I-did-its. You can e-mail me your project for suggestions, too. (PDFs... or is that PFDs?)
Scribblings
Stuff from the sketchbook. Dolphins, martial artists, ravens, wolves, sled dogs, horses, grackles fishing, baby burrfish, mystery blobs found in the swamp, and other fodder for the imagination. A sketchbook is a necessary tool for any artist; recording what you see for later use in creating a finished piece, practicing anatomy. It's also a great tool for putting you wholly in the moment; focusing on what's in front of you.
Wild Things
A bird in the hand and various other critters in the bush.
Journeys
PDFs of various voyages, on land or sea. True tales of the high seas, the low marsh, and points in between. And some forays into Middle Earth.
Double click on the medicine wheel, on any page, and find the Secret Pages.