A surreal piece done as a retrospective of my bizarre Summer of 2017 in Bend, Oregon.
I saw the total eclipse, watched the smoke-filled skies as central Oregon burned, and had multiple surgeries.

True Story: Years ago I worked with a woman who married a man with the last name of Snow. They had a baby girl, and named her Raven. I've always liked the name Raven, but the name "Raven Snow" I thought was amazing. I always knew I would one day create a fantasy image based on that name, and finally did, 17 years later!

A beast and its rider search the remnants of a burned-out forest.

This piece was used on the cover of Dragon Magazine #166.
It was later voted best cover of the year, and was reprinted in a later issue as a full pull-out poster.

Acrylics on poster board.

Koryn had ridden treestriders before, but they had been the small ones that he and his friends played with when they were very young. He had always dreamed that one day, he would have a full-grown treestrider to call his own. That day finally came, when Koryn passed the rites of the Fenerogh, and was rewarded with not just a Greater treestrider, but the rare Harlequin Strider, the fastest, most agile of all the striders.

It was the happiest day he had ever known, and Koryn and his pet strider NimbleSky would go on to explore the great forests and have many wonderful adventures together.

The Angel of Death has gone by many names over the centuries, and has always been greatly feared. In all the ages that have passed, the angel has witnessed wars, disasters, plagues and more. Still, after all this time and all those souls gathered, the thing that he finds the most deplorable is the parent who fears death so much that they would give up their own child to go in their place.

Despite his best intentions, Death was unable to interfere with the corrupt and evil bargains that may have been struck to make such a grotesque thing possible, but he could not help but wonder. Who could do such a thing? What kind of person gives their child's life in place of their own? Of one thing he was sure…where the final resting place would be for one that would commit such a crime. "A special place in Hell"…mused the angel, and without any other option, and like so many times before, retired yet another soul.

"The Drow, or "Dark Elves" were originally surface dwellers. After a series of cataclysmic magic wars, they were driven beneath the surface to what was to become known as the "Underdark". The warlike drow nature did not change when they escaped their surface foes during The Descent. In fact, they immediately launched a series of wars to establish territories. They began by stealing and seizing dwarven magical items, and using them against the dwarves - establishing an enmity that is still strong today.

Followers of the Spider Queen Lolth, the dark elves of Ilythiir gained a new name of "dhaeraow" from an ancient elven language Tethir, meaning "face of shadow, heart of night, traitor".

Over the long ages that followed the term "dhaeraow" became corrupted to Drow, the name given to the Dark Elves today."

The fairy tale "The Snow Queen" was written by Hans Christian Andersen. I've always liked the story, and I've been meaning to do a portrait of the queen for a few years now. She's a strange character, living alone in an ice palace, and she kidnaps a boy named Kay, and brings him to her palace to live.

In the middle of the vast, empty halls of snow, was a frozen lake, cracked into a thousand shards. She tells Kay he can never leave until he is able to spell out the word "Eternity" using the shards of ice.

As she is driving him to her palace in her sleigh for the first time, she kisses him on the forehead, a kiss colder than ice, which went straight through to his heart. "Now you must have no more kisses," she said, "or else I should kiss you to death."

A Forest Nymph relaxes in the cool shade of some fern leaves.

Created in Maya and Photoshop. Composited into a photographic background I shot in Oregon.

Hear ye, hear ye! The great and noble King of the Frogs, on this day has announced a festival to celebrate an exceptionally moist year, helping to provide a bounty of thousands of new egg masses for the kingdom! There will be an extraordinarily delicious banquet, consisting of only the finest insects, plump larvae, small sumptuous fish and delectable earthworms.

Fastest swimming, highest leaping, and loudest croaking contests will be held, with prizes going to the winners. A wonderful time is guaranteed!

His Royal Frogginess welcomes all to the festivities this weekend, and onsite care will be provided for all tadpoles and young froglets in the ponds and mudpits behind the castle.

~~~~

For my sister Toni, who always liked Fairy Tales (and frogs!)

A red dragon breathes fire into the night, while a town burns against the backdrop of a harvest moon.

This piece was used on the cover of Dragon Magazine #194.

Acrylics and gouache on illustration board.

Although most species of imps are generally known to be merely irritating or troublesome because of the mischief they cause, the Shadow Hill imps should be dealt with using caution. Despite their small size, they can be quite ferocious when threatened, and are especially dangerous when they travel in groups.

Some say they lack the ability to build structures of their own, while others maintain they are simply too lazy to do so. Regarless of the reason, they have adopted the rather nasty habit of evicting (and sometimes eating) the current tenants of the various lairs and underground dens found throughout the land of Enastan.

Fortunately, the Shadow Hill imps do not stray far from the Forest of the Oak Gods, and most burrowing creatures have learned to avoid this forest for their own safety.

Fan art for the no-longer-active Warhammer Online MMO.

Jerod and his sister Rose had wandered far, and stayed out much longer than they were supposed to. It was already late afternoon, and if they returned the way they had come, it would be well after dark before they got home. They stood at the edge of the Murkfall Forest and Jerod thought about how much trouble he had gotten into the last time they'd come home late. He felt sure that if they took the shortcut through the forest, they would arrive home before dark and in plenty of time for supper. He had heard all kinds of stories of things that happened in the forest, but he thought he and his sister were much too grown up to believe in fairies and hobgoblins.

"Are we going through the forest?" asked Rose. "Yes," said Jerod, "unless you're scared." Rose thought she could see things in the woods, things that hid, and watched her. But Jerod was always making fun of her for being scared, so Rose gathered what courage she had, took her brother's hand, and said "Ok…let's go then."

And with that, the children made their way into the Murkfall Forest.

One of my earlier pieces.

Acrylic on illustration board.

And it shall come to pass, at the heart of the vast Hazakrel wasteland, that the shadow of the Great Alignment shall fall across the face of the earth.
The tower of Vulekosh, long dormant, shall awaken once again, and a great wailing will rise up from the land.
And as it was foretold, the ancient seal will be torn asunder, and the earth will shake, and the Gate will open, and the earth's blood will burst forth and flow, and the rivers shall become as fire.
Then will the legions of the winged scourge be released to the four corners of the land, and the skies shall darken.
The end shall become the beginning, and the beginning shall become the end. And the Thousand Year Darkness will be upon us.


Prophecy of the Thraos, from the Book of T'arumund

This was a character from a nasty dream I had after getting food poisoning.

Acrylics on illustration board.

Acrylics and ink on illustration board.

Final days, the end approaches,

Sudden death has left its mark.

With the nightmare comes an army...

Birth of Horror, Dawn of Dark.

Acrylics and ink on illustration board.