Paul Lehr - Lords of the Starship - Prelim # 5

Back in 1998, with the help of Jane Frank of Worlds of Wonder, I contacted Paul Lehr with an idea for a commission. A favorite science fiction novel of mine was and still is "Lords of the Starship" by Mark S. Geston 1967. I felt that this novel fit perfectly with themes that Paul explored so many times in his artwork. That being gigantic machines dwarfing the tiny insignificant humans scurrying about them like ants.

So I called Paul and told him of the commission I had in mind and proposed that I send him a copy of the book to read. He agreed without any hesitation and I sent the book. A few weeks later we spoke again and he absolutely loved the book and we hashed out the details and scope of the project. He was incredibly friendly and easy to work with and so he began to create some prelims for me to see. A package from Paul arrived a couple of weeks later with the first four painted prelims, and I was delighted with his work! I called him up with a few thoughts and before I knew it a second package arrived with four more prelims! After discussing these at length, he painted a final and slightly larger prelim and it was like he read my mind and he completely nailed it. My jaw must have hit the floor when I saw it and I knew that we had our painting!

This is where the story takes a dark turn. After seeing the final prelim, I asked Paul to paint the commission exactly like that, at a size of 25 inches square. He agreed and we were off and running. Some time after this in late June or early July I received an unexpected phone call from Paul's wife informing me that he had just been diagnosed with late stage cancer. I was shocked and saddened and assumed that was the end of our project, but she told me that he wanted to start the painting anyway, but at a slightly smaller size. I told her of course, whatever he wanted to do was fine with me. A couple of weeks later, I got another call from Paul's wife informing me that he had done all that he could but the painting was unfinished and no further work was possible. Within days of this call Paul passed away on July 28, 1998.

A few months after his death I was given the opportunity to purchase the unfinished painting, which of course I did. This is an amazing body of work by an incredible artist and I will post it all here over the next week!