Lake Erie Captain

Lake Erie Captain, mechanical pen on illustration board, 1992

This was another gift for my dad. I drew it from a National Geographic picture of a boat captain whose port was Put-In-Bay, located on the north side of South Bass Island in Lake Erie. I grew up in northwestern Ohio, and we frequently went on day trips in our small power boat. Put-In-Bay was about the farthest we ever ventured across the always-choppy waters of Lake Erie. I think all artists must have a favorite piece or two from their body of work, and this is definitely one of mine. It's been almost 20 years since I drew this, and I'm still pretty pleased with how it turned out. I was always very comfortable with this technique. It was strangely relaxing to lay down all those short, little lines. After an hour or two, the image just begins to appear, almost magically.