"Creating light and shadow out of very fine interconnecting lines of ink, for the perfect image: that's the challenge I face," said Pumphrey, who very rarely does plein air work but generally prefers to take photographs of scenes that interest him and then create them in his studio.

The license plate on Jack Pumphrey's van reads "ZARTIST" and he has certainly lived up to that title. He has been drawing ever since he was a small boy in Indiana. His bus driver father would bring home the old billboard advertisements from inside the bus so Jack and his siblings could use the backs for drawing paper.

"He would bring them home and have us draw our impressions from some book we had just read, like Robinson Crusoe," Jack recounted as we sat in his home studio. The studio itself is just as you might imagine - desks, computers, phones, fax, clock showing four different time zones, a light table where he executes his drawing, examples of his yachts, cars & people on the walls, and book cases full of his vintage camera collection & die cast model cars (75 & 33 at last count).

Though he's tried a variety of media, including stained glass and sculpture, pen and ink drawing with pastel marker pen accents, remains his favorite, and he is continually inspired by nature and the work of other artists, including Escher and architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

In addition to being an accomplished pen & ink and mixed media artist, Jack is also well educated in the printing field. He has over 40 years as a top salesman of printed products & printing equipment. This experience guarantees that his prints and note cards will be produced to the highest standards possible."

Click on the Boat Portraits to see a larger version