"Lousy Smarch Weather".

As usual, winter refuses to let go of the Ohio Valley. The pictures above are from the two ice storms we had a couple of weeks ago, and tomorrow brings the promise of 4 to 6 inches more of happy fun time.

In other news, I've decided to dispel the myth that I don't like to sell my paintings. I have begun the process of adding prices to the artwork information sections of my gallery pages.

Interested buyers can contact me at stevegilberts@earthlink.net.

If you are interested in an illustration that does not have a price please contact me and I will provide the size and price of the piece.

Butterfly

One of the projects I have been working on has been officially announced by Cemetery Dance Publications. It is my great honor to be the illustrator for Simon Clark's Signature Series book "Butterfly".

Information about the book is available at Butterfly: Cemetery Dance Publications.

Simon Clark's official website is here.

And this is my illustration for the cover.

By Golly It Is 2008!

I came across a Wikipedia entry for GenCon that has me listed among the recently attending artists. Cool beans! You can read the whole article here.

Yes, I'm still kicking. The final months of 2007 were a bit of a dog (and the dog did bite). The year as a whole was rather pricey (car problems, new roof, a three legged poodle), but we survived it. And on the art side of things 2007 was wonderful.

My two largest projects of 2007 (which are continuing into 2008) are under wraps until the official announcements from the publishers, hence the lack of recent entries in my online gallery.

With that said, here are three images I should have posted some time back.

The first is a collaboration between Alan Clark and myself. Entitled "Stray Ghosts with Casual Hardware", this was a demonstration piece that Alan and I began at Chattacon 32. It's debut was at WFC2007. Purchasing information is available on Alan's site here.


The second one is the cover for "The Strange Case of Rudolph Pearson" by William Jones and published by Chaosium Inc. You can read more about it here.


And the final image is a personal project entitled "The Hidden Mechanics of Remorse". This is a 2' wide by 4' tall painting. It had been a long time since I had painted in a large format (beyond scanner size specifically).

Not Hibernating Yet!

November and December have been more than a little hectic ( all the usual junk plus then some). So that people don't think I was swallowed up by some Lovecraftian elder creature I thought I'd better throw something onto my blog. So here is my very belated report on the World Fantasy Convention.

Becky and I roomed with our friends Alan Clark and Jill Bauman. Jill and Alan are always a blast to hang out with.

The art show run by Bonnie and Ted Atwood was amazing. The panel bays were in groups of three panels. Within the bay I occupied I had two panels, while the third ( or first depending on which direction you started) had the intricate work of Japanese artist Hicaru Tanaka. Facing my bay and looking to the right found the beautiful work of John Picacio, while across from me were the beautiful watercolors of Charles Vess, to the right of him the wonderful work of Todd Lockwood, and to his left the always delightfully disturbing work of Alan. The entire show consisted of this high level of talent in one form or another.

Displaying my work at WFC is always somewhat daunting. I'm only finishing up my fourth year in the publishing business while the majority of the artists are 20+ years in the field. But my luck is still holding true and I was fortunate to receive a lot of good feedback on my paintings.

I screwed up my courage to introduce myself to Todd Lockwood, Steven Hickman, and Danoto Ginacola (not all at the same time mind you), and to top things off I was able to see original paintings by Jeffery Jones through a special showing of his work.

Other high points of the convention included meeting the lovely Ellen Datlow, Ramsey Campbell signing a copy of his book Cold Print that Becky bought for me in the dealers room, meeting magic-realism author Bruce Taylor , Alan and Jill introducing us to Jane and Walter Frank, and of course getting to meet up with the folks that make the conventions such a special time for us. Among this group are William & Deborah Jones, Gary & Nancy Frank, Beth Gwinn, William O'Conner, John Picacio, Brad & Ann Hutchings, Mike Willmoth, and Richard & Mickey Sardinha.

Here are some shots from the convention and an article that Jill was interviewed for about WFC.

And In The Local News...

Recently I was interviewed by reporter Larry Thomas for a segment in my hometown newspaper The Evening News. You can read an online version here.
The photo that accompanies the article is by staff photographer Chuck Branham.

To my delight the article was on the front page of this Saturday's edition!

Thanks again Larry and Chuck.




Staff photo by C.E. Branham

Some Good October News

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Twentieth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant is out.

Stephen Graham Jones' narrative "Raphael" was among the stories included. I did the accompanying illustration for it when it appeared in Cemetery Dance #55 (which also sported a cover done by yours truly).
(Cover for #55)

Mentioned in the Summation 2006: Horror, is Chaosium's "Arkham Tales" which I did the cover for.


In the back are the honorable mentions. Among the listed stories that I did illustrations for are:

Scott Nicholson's "She Climbs A Winding Stair", Dark Wisdom #9 ( which I also did the cover for).
(Cover for#9)

J. T. Petty's "Grapefruit Spoons", Cemetery Dance #55.


And Glen Hirshberg's "Transitway", Cemetery Dance #56.


Ellen Datlow's nod to the artists of the small press is again an impressive list, including such peers of personal acquaintance as Allen Koszowski, Keith Minnion, Augie Wiedemann, Debbie Hughes, Russell Dickerson, Chad Savage, and Teresa Tunaley.

And once again I also have the great honor of being included on the list!

Thank you very much Ms. Datlow.

Cthulhu Ahoy!

William Jones invited me to post on his blog a short essay about my creation of the cover for High Seas Cthulhu. It can be found in the replies section for the High Seas Cthulhu entry (William's Ramblings).

My professional history with William brings up something which I have stated before, but always bears repeating.

It could be said that my career took off in the spring of 2004. That was when I garnered my first assignment for William and Deborah Jones' magazine The Book of Dark Wisdom (now known as Dark Wisdom).

The exposure I received from having my work appear in Dark Wisdom that year (coupled with my membership at Chad Savage and Alan Clark's spookyART.com) could definitely be considered a launching point for my vocation.

And of course I would not have a Chesley Nomination to my credit if not for my cover illustration for Dark Wisdom issue #8.

So thanks again William, Deborah, Chad, and Alan.

Just for the fun of it, here is my first illustration for Dark Wisdom and below that one of my most recent ones.


2004

2007