In the early to mid-80s I used to hang out with science fiction author Shariann Lewitt. We would build worlds, try out plots, and explore esotericism together. She had ambitions to be a famous s.f. novelist, as I had ambitions to be an s.f./fantasy illustrator. She got further along in her dream career than I did. We drifted apart in the later 80s and she moved to the Boston area where she now teaches writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I did some art commissions for her and this is one of them. She loved test pilots and the "Top Gun" types, and some of her books celebrated this sort of flyer characters. The plane depicted here is the Douglas Skyrocket, an early supersonic jet sponsored and flown by the Navy. I copied the image of the plane from the cover of THE LONELY SKY, a book about test pilots. It is one of the few nametag miniatures that I painted in acrylic paint.
"Douglas Skyrocket" is acrylic on Fabriano paper, 3 1/2" x 2 1/4", spring 1984.
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