Early Work: Paintings, Book Covers and More
I was nursing a beer at the Deer Park Tavern outside of Wilmington, Delaware when I ran into Freddie Stiert, a mathematics professor at the University of Delaware. I wanted to leave the college and I was complaining about the lack of this and that, and thought I was ready to be a professional in New York City. Freddie just looked at me and said, “Look, if you think you’re ready, then you should just go for it. I’d do it.” And so the next day I was packing my car and driving the New Jersey Turnpike back to home.
I found an ad for the Nyack Academy of Fine Arts, an old brick building on the corner of Broadway and Main Street above a pizza joint where photographers and ballet dancers had already set up studios. Moving into the second floor I started to paint these pictures.
"Plants" Oil on canvas. Gabriel Gallery. 1969. One of the first paintings from my studio in Nyack.
The Guitarist Lee Reiser. 1969. Oil on canvas. 24" x 36". Lee Reiser was the remarkable musician I first heard in a high school talent show. A good friend, somewhat irascible, always ready to perform.
Kathy. Oil on canvas. Gabriel Gallery, 1969. I painted this in 1969 when I wore love beads, paisley, leather fringe long hair and bell bottoms. The owner of the gallery where I was showing, bought the painting on the day I brought it in. I heard from him a couple of years ago and he said it was the first thing he saw in the morning, when he woke up for 45 years.
"Tin Type". Acrylic on canvas. 1969.. In Boston, I came across an old tin type in a family album. This is where it went...
I don't have a title and I don't know who bought it. Gabriel Gallery, 1970's. Oils on canvas.
Emergency. Painted in 1971. Oil on canvas. 24" x 36". This was sold to Fawcett Publishing and was the book cover for "The Earth Tripper" which was my first illustration sold with my agents Frank & Jeff Lavaty.
"The Earth Tripper" by Leo P. Kelley. Oil on canvas. Published 1973.
Paperback book cover. Oil on illustration board.
One of the early book illustrations that were bought directly from my portfolio.
Pharmaceutical Illustration. Acrylic on canvas. 1973.
"Fury" Henry Kutner, author. Lancer Books, 1972 mass market paperback edition. Oil on canvas.
The Time Masters. Doubleday Science Fiction Club. 1971. Oil on canvas.
"Alpha 2" Robert Silverberg, editor. Ballentine Books. 1971 Edition. Oil on canvas.
"Alpha 2". Oil on canvas. 1973
"Psychodelic Beatles" Oil on canvas. Gallery painting. 1970. This was hung in a show in the lobby at the Tappanzee Theater, where I was happy to meet Alan Arkin, who was there in a play. This painting was bought by a NY lawyer named Dominic, whom I unfortunately lost contact with.
"Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said" Phillip K. Dick, author. DAW Books, edition. 1978. Acrylic on Canvas.
"Interworld" Isadore Haiblum, author. 1977. Acrylic on illustration board.
The Edge of Never. Fawcett Books. 1973. Pastels, colored pencils & oil.
Unpublished Portfolio Sample. "Groucho" Acrylic on illustration board. 1975. This was an early attempt to move into other styles.
"King of Comedy" Acrylic on illustration board.
"Octagon" Fred Saberhagen, author. First Edition. Oil on illustration board. 1981.
"The Golden Helix" Theodore Sturgeon, author. 1979. Acrylic on masonite.
Stardance by Spider and Jeanne Robinson. Dell Books paperback. Doubleday Books Quantum Science Fiction Book Club, Hardcover. 1979. Acrylic on masonite.
"The Wilk Are Among Us." by Isadore Haiblum. Dell Books. Acrylic and Egg Tempera. 1975..
City. Ace Books, New York, N.Y. 1981. Oil on Masonite.
Vendetta, by Joseph Gilmore, March, 1973 Pinnacle Books. Oil on masonite.
"Eaton's Old Boys" 1973. Oil on canvas. The annual Cooperstown Race along the headwaters of the Susquehanna River started very early in the morning.
The Story of Comock the Eskimo. Fawcett Books. 1972. Acrylic on illustration board.
The Final Circle of Paradise. DAW Books 1976. Acrylic on masonite.
Scientific Astrology by Sir John Manolesco. 1st Edition. Pinnacle Books. 1973.
The Best of Isaac Asimov. Fawcett Crest Books, 1973. Acrylic on illustration board.
"Journey Into Fire" by Patricia Wright. Warner Books, 1977. Ross Palette Oils on gessoed Masonite.
Originally for a Paperback cover, then touched up recently in PhotoShop.
"The Gas Shortage" After Don Eddy. Airbrush acrylics on canvas. 24" x 36"
Pharmaceutical Advertising. 1974. Because of the kind of artwork I was producing back then, I rarely received advertising assignments, but they did come along and the budgets would keep the lights on in my New York brownstone for a couple of months. This image was due on the same day as two others and had a short deadline, so in a panic, I resorted to a new technique I had learned from a Spanish artist, Gervasio Gallardo.
Pharmaceutical Advertising. 1974. If your sinuses were trouble in the previous illustration, they were feeling fine on the second version, here. Pastels, colored pencils and oils on cold press illustration board.
"Journey Into Fire" Original Oil painting. Denman Ross Set Palette.