The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate 1
- THE DRAGON OF THE ISHTAR GATE 1 - An acrylic painting on a 16 x 20 size canvas board. It appears on the dust jacket of the book, "THE DRAGON OF THE ISHTAR GATE," by L. Sprague de Camp, published by Donning in 1982.
Embarrassing things happened to me in 1979 at the World Fantasy convention. I was there because I had been nominated that year for the "Best Professional Artist" award. I was standing in the vestibule outside the room where the award ceremonies were to take place, talking to editor-publisher George Scithers who introduced me to author L. Sprague de Camp and his wife Catherine, referring to me as an "up-and-coming" new illustrator. Mrs. De camp shook my hand and warmly told me to keep practicing and maybe someday I might become a professional artist. I wonder what went through her mind when later, at the award ceremonies I was introduced as a nominee for "Best Professional Artist".
When I entered the ceremonies hall looking for a table with an empty seat, I spotted my friend Gerry de la Ree. As I sat down in the empty seat next to him a tiny woman at the other end of the table jumped up, ran around to my side and gruffly told me to go sit elsewhere, this table was reserved for "professional" people. But here's the good part; at the table behind me sat Joseph Payne Brennan, one of my favorite writers, who saw me rudely being "shooed away" and gestured for me to sit down next to him. We had never met before but we soon got to know each other and I had a great time talking to him about art, writing, publishing, and who was who in the room. And that's when I found out that the rude tiny lady who had shooed me away, was Judy-Lynn Benjamin, the boss at Del Rey Books, a major publisher.
Well . . . I did not win the award, the meal was the usual rubber chicken, and the whole event would have been a bummer for me if not for the friendly act of Joseph Payne Brennan.
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