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Artist is an endangered species By Bill Varble Graham Wilmott doesn�t have to look far for inspiration. From his studio on the banks of Little Butte Creek near Lake Creek, the technical artist may see eagles, red-tailed hawks or just the mountain mist rising from the meandering creek. In 30-plus years as a technical illustrator and airbrush artist, Wilmott has been drawn to the light and detail of such subjects. He is the featured artist at the fifth annual Lake Creek Art Show. The exhibit takes place this weekend at Pioneer Hall in Lake Creek, 1739 South Fork of the Little Butte Creek Road. Presented by the Lake Creek Historical Society, it features watercolors, western art, knives, pencil drawings and old-time fiddlers. "I had an art dealer in New York City tell me (Wilmott) was one of the top 10 in the country," says Bob Dean, a supporter of the show. Wilmott�s themes range from classic wooden ships like the U.S. Constitution to endangered species such as a harpie eagle to vintage fire engines and classic locomotives. When you look at a Wilmott creation like a 1924 Stutz "Pumper" fire truck he created for the city of Jacksonville, it�s like looking at a photo, of course, but it�s not just the detail; it�s nuances. The fire engine�s chrome glints in the light. You can almost smell the black leather of the seat. "Our world no longer produces beautiful and intricate airbrush technical illustration by hand and mind," Wilmott says. He was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, 58 years ago. He started anatomy and still life study at 13. At 16 he spent a year at the Winchester College of Fine Art studying fine arts, still life painting and lettering. In 1968 he became a member of the Society of Industrial Artists, a designation reserved for top artists and graphic designers in England. By the 1980s he was living in the Los Angeles area. He says by that time he figured he was one of only three artists there still doing by hand a kind of work computers were increasingly taking over. So why do it? "I paint and illustrate because that is what I do best," he says. Wilmott has produced works as donations or for clients in communities ranging from New York City (a fire truck) to Butte Falls (a label design for bottled mountain spring water). After the Oklahoma City bombing in April of 1995, Wilmott created a hand-drawn, airbrushed illustration of Unit 1, Station 1, the first fire engine to arrive at the Murrah Building, and donated it to the city. He created a similar image of a 1930 Mack truck owned by the New York Police Department�s emergency services unit. His portrait of an 1875 Inyo locomotive wound up on a U.S. postage stamp after Sen. John McCain of Arizona wrote the Postal Service calling the train series "the most beautiful series of historic locomotives ... that I have ever seen." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA