Illustrator

I was at my wit's end trying to find someone who could draw attractive line drawings from my photos of various "Treasures". Then a friend suggested I try the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont.

That's how I found Melanie Gillman, the artist who  drew most of the pictures in Treasures On Your Doorstep.

Here's a link to her continuing story: As The Crow Flies"

http://www.melaniegillman.com/


And one to the Center for Cartoon Studies

http://www.teachingcomics.org/


Downtown White River Junction has become quite a vibrant place these days, with several coffee bars, restaurants and cool shops as well as the cartoon college, a theater, and summer railroad jaunts, not to mention the old steam train in the rail yard.

I think I found a treasure of an illustrator!

Take a look at the book to see if you agree.

The Heart Of the World

Colorado National Monument is hoping to upgrade itself to the status of a National Park – a higher level of protection. It could hardly offer a higher level of delight!

 

Twenty-three miles of amazingly engineered road, mostly built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, but not completed until 1950, wind their way along canyon edge up into the blue Colorado sky. Overlooks provide lofty viewpoints and short hikes among juniper and pinon pine trees. Wild flowers decorated the landscape when I visited in May. Long, and no doubt rewarding, wilderness hikes await adventurers.

Rimrock Drive snakes its scenic way through the Monument.

 

The Monument lies between Fruita and Grand Junction CO, just off Interstate 70. It owes its existence to the untiring efforts of one man, John Otto, who, arriving there in 1907, thought the area too beautiful, too magnificent to be overlooked. He explored, developed trails, lobbied and eventually saw the Monument created in 1911. Ah! The power of the individual!

It's an excellent road for cycling.

 

 

 

Treasures On Your Doorstep Paperback Now Available!

The news today is that I’ve published Treasures On Your Doorstep as a paperback. So far it’s available from Amazon.com: just go to Amazon and search by title.

 

There’s also a Kindle version e-book.

 

For me, this publication is a huge landmark in a long journey: first the inspiration, then the research, then the writing and the tussle with publishing. All along, however, I believed that this book should be out there in the world, inspiring people to appreciate and visit the wonderful treasures of the National Park system of the USA. Now it is and now it’s time to spread the word!

 

I hope you’ll enjoy it yourself, and perhaps buy some copies as gifts for your friends, and tell lots of people about Treasures on Your Doorstep.