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I find it only fitting that Dragon's Fang lead off this collection, being that it was my first sculpture of my storyline characters.

This pose is taken from the novel, when Nick is standing along the river in Japan.  Though the story never states that Nick was standing on the rocks in the water, I planned to build the base with clear resin to simulate the water flowing between the rocks

The completion time of this piece was five and a half years with the overall height of the piece being fourteen inches tall.

Constructed out of drywall mud and plaster casting, I found it a suitable medium due to my experience with drywall in the construction industry.

I have been told that this piece can be considered priceless, but I always thought an artist had to die to reach that kind of status.

Fun Fact:  this statue of Dragon's Fang originally started out as my character Billy Ray McBride, of my North & South novels.

To be honest, I was skeptical of how Billy's face would turn out, so I put Nick's mask on him and changed the costume.  In the long run, I think it all worked out.

Two years later after the completion of the Dragon's Fang statue, I began again to create the Confederate Soldier, a.k.a. Billy Ray McBride when I began rewriting the series that is now North & South; Lines Drawn

    The scene that inspired the sculpture has Billy walking down a New York street with the wind blowing at his back.

That was eight years ago, with the work on this piece moving slow for several reasons, mainly due to life getting in the way more than anything else. As you can tell the piece is not completed yet with the final details of his trench coat and hat being all that is left to finish before the final painting takes place.

Remember what I said about the Dragon's Fang sculpture?  Unwilling to back away from this one, I spent seven months, working at least three to four hours a day to get Billy's facial features as close to perfect as possible

Yes, that is Billy's long blonde hair blowing around his face.  Each strand of hair consists of drywall mud applied to a piece of plaster casting with a double 00 paint brush, that was shaped to fit Billy's head. These pieces on each side gave the brim of his cowboy hat something to rest on.  On the underside of the hat brim, I sculpted more strands of hair to simulate more movement created by the wind. When the brim was put into place, the hair meshed together to give the illusion I was hoping for.

This group of characters are the second team of the Confederate Soldiers.  As Billy, Taylor and JD moved forward with their pursuit of Antonio Callistone's empire, they allied with more heroes and vigilantes, expanding their ranks.  Detective Shae Dixon took the lead of this team to work side by side with Billy and the others.

From left to right: Lonestar was an orphan from Texas.  Winddancer is a seminole indian from Florida. Detective Shae Dixon is a cop from South Carolina, and Jason and Jmmy Nordike are former members of DSC's Task Force Zebra.  Their code names are Ironclad and Minute.

This was actually part two of a two piece set, with Billy, Taylor, JD, Scotty (who in the storyline was transformed into a granite goliath known as Stonewall), and a former member of Omega Corps named Anthony Higgins, code named Redwing.  The two pieces were created in 1995.  The unfortunate thing is that the file of Billy and Taylor's piece was corrupted and unsalvageable.  However, I have found one of the original prints that I hope can be scanned to a digital file again. 

This group is the remaining members of the Confederate Soldiers after the End of Times story, based on the original manuscript for the comic series. When I sat down and did the rewrites for the End of Times series, several changes took place with some of the supplemental members of the team, mainly Lonestar and Wind Dancer. Their new story contribution can be found in the new release:North & South: Mysery Loves Company.

In the new series following the End of Times, they barely had a chance to regroup after saving the world, only to become the targets of the greatest manhunt in US history. 

From left to right:
Winddancer, Lonestar, Cricket, Onyx, Saphyre, Ironclad, Billy, Stonewall, Taylor, Slapshot, and Redwing.  

    From Dragon's Fang, these are two of the foes Nickolas Landry faced.  In the comic book story arc, these two villains appeared many times in most of the monthly titles, including the North & South series, and more.

    The next set of pieces of artwork are more of the villains created to face my heroes, almost twenty years ago.

Mr. Bob West of Waynesville NC commissioned me to paint the four seasons on this 48" saw blade. Over two hundred hours went into the four separate paintings. Several "firsts" were achieve with this piece. It was my first painting involving snow, in the winter scene, and the first person I have painted, the young boy lying on the creek bank in the summer scene.

A friend at work bought a headboard for her grandson.  The problem was that it was a girl's headboard with dolphins and a starfish cut out in the center top of the headboard. Four years old, her grandson is already expressing his good taste in being a super fan of Spiderman.  So, unwilling to say no, I took the headboard, cut out the starfish to make a spider web. Behind it, I built a night light as seen in picture number  2  so that when the light is on it casts the shadow of the web.  After extending the web out across the headboard, I hand painted the web slinger on it for him.

Sometimes, the greatest reward or gain that can be received is the admiration and appreciation for the job done

Paul Rabideau, a good friend of mine, was ultimately the reason I took the final step to seeing my books to print.  I peaked his interest about my books and characters back in 2009, while working on a storyline based in the fantasy genre of wizards and dragons, his favorite.  Curious to read what I had already penned, Paul nagged and nagged, but my reply was always the same.  I told him that if he wanted to read some of my work, I would bring him one of my finished manuscripts.  With an open mind, he read the story of Cuda, and told me that I was a fool if I didn't pursue this with a publisher.  His exact words were, "This is as good and better than a lot of books out there."  The rest is now history.

    Have you ever had a life long dream to have some little thing, or accomplish some silly little goal that no one else would understand?  You know, like collecting every bottle cap from every soda around the world that had ever been bottled.  Or maybe you wanted to have some one of a kind item that you could never really possess.  Paul's was a Maltese Falcon statue.  For most of his life, he has searched antique and curio stores, yard sales and such, but the elusive bird was nowhere to be found.  That is, until one day when Paul met me.  I was working on the mermaid sculpture, (example further down the page) when Paul asked me if I could do the falcon for him.  Confident that there isn't much that I can't accomplish when i put my mind to it, I agreed.  Keep in mind, this was before the books went to print.

    Paul would be the first to tell you that he isn't some kind of grammar scholar, or ever drawn a paycheck as an editor.  But he reads, and I mean this guy reads.  When Paul and I worked together, I let him read the books first, proofreading if you will.  What mistakes he caught, were addressed, but what he gave me most was his honesty about the plots of the storylines.  Paul never held back and because of that, the book became better by me accepting his comments and suggestions for changes and implementing them into the stories.

    For his honesty, and genuine love for my stories, I give to you, my rendition of the Maltese Falcon I sculpted for him.  You always said that you believed in me, Paul.  That is something a true friend would say.  It is that faith that you possess in my abilities that I treasure most.

This piece started out as a challenge for me to write a sequel to Cuda.  The question to start with is who or what the villain would be?  Obviously it had to be something bigger and better than the first book, but who or what? Basically, it became she, or her, the estranged and somewhat maniacal daughter of the late Colonel Jameson.

Fun fact: Jessica here was the beginning of a new step in my sculpting.  Before drywall mud was applied for definition, I first scuplted the basic body shape out of styrofoam, instead of starting out with a wire armiture.  This made the piece lighter and shortened the initial sculpting time.
Where Charlie Steiner was turned into a creature half man, half fish, Jessica Jameson brought the same transformation about onto herself.

The same, and yet different results take place. Note the coral on her nose and forehead, and fins on her arms and legs. 

Her outfit, to hide her modesty will resemble a layered toga resembling those depicted to be worn by Greek Goddesses.

Though she sits and waits for me to pick her back up again, I know that once I am inspired to work on her story, she will find herself closer to completion as well.

RIP 2015

It was the idea behind the Lady Victorius novel that inspired this ongoing piece of work.  As seen on the front cover of the book, the phoenix and the frost dragon witness the value of true love, and spare the world of destruction.

The statue stands almost two feet tall

The center of the piece is the lava that the phoenix is rising from, as the frost dragon circles the event. around the base reads, ego dilecto meo et dilectus meus.  "I am my beloved's, and my beloved's mine."

These are Victorius and Devare, the two destined lovers who must make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. 

Still under construction, the lovers stand at a whopping height of 3 inches.  Devare still needs his arms and Victorius her hair

Many have asked why it seems to take so long for me to complete a piece of work.  My art, writing, and life go hand in hand in hand.  My role as a father has always taken priority, but never have I neglected my love as a creator.  I value the work I do as personal achievements and therefore want to enjoy the process.  With small children at my feet from time to time, the more fragile undertakings were left on the shelf until a later date.  Now that my children are growing up and moving away, I look forward to unloading my shelves.

RIP 2012

Being a fan of fantasy stories and renaissance fairs, I had the crazy notion to build my own suit of armor.

These pieces here are the chest plate(unfinished), shoulder plate for sword arm(left), and the dragon's head which will attach the cloak to the armor chest plate.

The helmet is four separate pieces to be joined after molding and Fiberglas casting.

My son Austin is the one standing behind the curtain holding the horns against the helmet. (His hand is in the way on the left horn and he has it a little crooked)

These pieces are the shield arm plates, consisting of the neck and shoulder guard, shoulder cap, bicep and forearm plate, with hand shield at the top.

The centerpiece of the hand shield is a dragon's tooth

This is the chain mail skirt laid out between the two  thigh plates.

All of the chain mail is hand made, ( by me) during three seasons of Falcons football. Consisting of twisted jack link chain, I disconnected each link to weave the mail fashioned

This represents the first serious painting I've done in nearly ten years. It is on an 8"x10" canvas painted with acrylics.  The barn is actually located on the hill in my back yard , so it is titled, Barn on the Hill.  Go to the for sale page to purchase this one of a kind piece.

SOLD 2013