Young Men and Fire.
In the Dagara tradition of Burkina Faso, W. Africa, young men are initiated into the community at the age of about 12 through a series of difficult experiences over a period of several months. Young men are thought to carry a kind of fiery spirit through their teen years which can lead to great growth- or great loss- for the community. These initiatory experiences are designed to introduce the young men to the concept that "while they are all very nice planets, they are not the Sun.". In other words, they are challenged to go beyond their own smaller interpretation of life and to see how their actions affect everyone else. In short, the initiation process is designed to open their young hearts to the greater good.
The ancient tenet of the tribe is:
"Any village that does not initiate it's young men will, in turn, be burned down by the young men they chose not to initiate."

Another single page illustration for "The Moonclock", Scholastic Inc., 1992. These drawings are fairly big for me- 18" x 24". People often ask me at book signings if my hand get's tired. Well, rarely do I get tired while signing books but, lord, I still recall my sore left hand after several months of scratching the crow-quill for this book. It was a good ache, though.

Illustration for an article in "Lawyer's Weekly" magazine. Article covered the legal responsibilities that came with introducing the fantastic new internet into the classroom. Water color, gouache, 1996. And yes, I did use Mrs. Duffy (bless her soul), my 6th grade teacher, as the model in the swamp green dress.

A single-page pen and ink illustration for "The Moonclock", the second book I'd written and illustrated, published by Scholastic Inc., 1992. The book was printed in full color but the art was created in two pieces- water color and a separate pen and ink. This was an attempt to get some really clear black line work and vibrant color in the days before digital color calibration in the printing process. We had a siamese cat when I was a kid. It's name was Tiki. Loved that Tiki. The cat had a bigger vocabulary than the rest of us. Pen and ink, 1991.

Single page illustration for the first book I illustrated, published by Scholastic Inc., 1985- "The Amazing Voyage of Jackie Grace". A tale of a young lad, his bath tub and the British sailors who abscond with his tub (and him) as they head out sea in search of their ship and the dastardly pirate Fletcher Leadbelly. Water color, pen and ink, 1984.

Anatomical study of the jaw, pencil, circa 1996.

This is the end paper art for a book I illustrated and wrote for Scholastic in 1990, called "The Moonclock". A separate water color overlay was created and the color/pen&ink works were combined at the printer. Pen and ink, 1990.