What would it feel like for a helicopter to drop a boat into the sea during a raging storm?
I was involved in a sailing mishap on the San Francisco Bay during high winds that led to a Coast Guard helicopter rescue. And I've been in the open ocean in a small boat during a heavy wind.
This was my first assignment for magazine illustration way back in 1983.
The title is "Hurricane Claude," a novelette by Hilbert Schenck, published in 1983 by Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine.
Jim . . . I concur . . . chuckle. I've never been rescued at sea. Can't imagine how that must feel. I"m a Midwestern guy . . . Nebraska. My first time on the ocean was in a boat that looked big in the harbor, but which grew increasingly smaller as the shore disappeared behind us, and as the Atlandic swells grew higher and higher. Your painting captures that feeling.
ReplyDeleteRescued during a gale by a coast guard helicopter? That sounds like a story with hearing. My dad was Coastie, and had some wild adventures.
ReplyDeleteDang, thats awesome! I love the cover illustrations of these types of mags!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I'm in a second hand bookstore or auction etc I pick them up when I can.
These are wonderful paintings. I've always found painting the ocean, waves water etc, realistically a very big challenge. Yet, I sense there is a process there somewhere. Maybe sometime, you might do a video tutorial on this topic :) (paying customer here!)
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the originals of your covers. When I was ten I bought the Alan Dean Foster book Quozl off of a spinner rack because of your artwork. Before I became aware of the incredible history of illustration, I was pulled in to make a purchase because of your luscious painting. Thank you for sharing your early professional work, those waves look awesome. I've always found ocean waves to be very difficult to render.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the contrast between the helicopter and the brooding sky. The whole thing is very eye catching as is all of your work. You really know how to break up the space, every inch is activated. There's always some play of dynamics going on, whether it's contrast in hue, value or texture. I greatly enjoy when you share close ups of the brush work. I'd love to buy an oversized art book collecting your book and magazine covers to put next to my Dinotopia books.
Do you happen to recall the size of the artwork you made for Quozl? Perhaps the media or how much time you had to develop and paint it? That painting really made an impression on my young brain. Something about the color, and the implied narrative struck a chord. The color made me pick the book up and the content of the artwork made me what to know more about the scene depicted. You are so prolific that you probably don't remember making it, but I can see it in my minds eye even now.
Well sorry for writing you a whole essay. I thought your comments section looked a little bare, and I greatly appreciate all of your posts. Again thanks for sharing, your Blog and YouTube channel are very instructive and entertaining.
Hi Jim - Beautiful painting - among many other things, I love the treatment of the helicopter blades. ...So what is the story behind being rescued by the Coast Guard??
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