Letters Lovecraftian

LETTERS LOVECRAFTIAN - Black Ink and black color pencil drawings on an 11 x 14 size coquille board, 1975.

These drawings were commissioned by Gerry de la Ree for a Lovecraft book that he wanted to publish. Gerry was the first person I met who was an insider in the science fiction and fantasy field. That was back in 1955 when he lived in River Edge, NJ. and had a home-based mail-order business selling used SF books and magazines. I went to his home to buy some back issues of Fantastic Novels and Famous Fantastic Mysteries magazines because they all featured the artwork of Virgil Finlay, Lawrence Sterne Stevens, and Hannes Bok, and I just had to have them.

When I entered his home I found myself in wonderland, beautiful paintings by famous SF artists hung on all the walls above the many bookcases that stretched around the room. The bookcases were all filled with rare science fiction and fantasy books. My sense of wonder was overflowing, and by the smile on his face I could see that Gerry knew how I felt. As I looked around, it never entered my mind that one day I would see my artwork displayed up there with all those wonderful artists, and that I would be part of that wonderland.

Sometimes dreams do come true. Twenty years later I stood in his library again, he had moved to Saddle River, NJ, and as I had been doing for years, I looked at all those wonderful paintings by Kelly Freas, J. Allen St. John, Hannes Bok, Lawrence Stevens, and this time I also saw a few of my paintings displayed with theirs. My determination to be one of "them" had paid off, my drawings and paintings were now appearing in professional SF magazines and books.

And Gerry de la Ree helped make that possible.