I replaced the default header photo with a noted work of classic 1950s sci-fi illustration… or at least, it WAS the 1950s when I drew the original piece at the age of 8 or thereabouts. I immediately mailed it to my Grandparents (Boppy  and Gocky I called them) to be added to all the other ‘art’ I kept sending them (hence my granddad’s repeating query “What’s wrong with this boy?”)  My grandmother passed away first, then granddad. Going through his things, my parents found the entire collection in a small suitcase safely tucked away in a closet and returned them to me. Bless Boppy and Gocky for hanging on to them (as opposed to tossing them in the garbage can). Alas, few survive to this day, but the one above was always one of my favourites.

My ‘art illo’ has everything representing the sensibilities of the era: fast cruisers of the Earth Patrol, an alien flying saucer, an alien (friendly, one hopes), a satellite,  and a truly futuristic building (based on the agitator in my mother’s washing machine), all set on the airless landscape of some wandering asteroid. It reflects a truly childish ‘sensa wonda.’ And why not? Now that I am retired, I have gleefully plunged into my second childhood, thank Ghu.

I utilized the original line drawing as the cover art for my WCSFAzine issue #5. The above piece is a colourful ‘touch-up’ done with Word Paint and slightly widened to fit the available space (1000 by 288 pixels they recommended. That’s a lot of pixels!). I like it. It looks like it was drawn with various colours of fluorescent chalk on a black plasma-field chalkboard. Can’t get more futuristic then that!

Combined with the old ‘Space Cadet’ early computer clip art, the appearance of my site has a jolly ‘retro’ feel to it, don’t you think?