2013 nude in watercolor by Jon J Muth

My second piece from Malcolm’s CAF Live offerings (but purchased after the fact). 

I discovered Jon J Muth in 1986 from his work on the first Moonshadow miniseries and the subsequent graphic novel, Dracula: A Symphony in Moonlight and Nightmares.  Those books, and his work specifically, are the reason that watercolors are my favorite color medium today.  I purchased my very first piece of Muth art from Steve Donnelly that same year.  A splash from Moonshadow #4 (my favorite page from that first series).  When I inquired about any other splashes, he told me that almost all of Muth’s art was being sold by Wally Harrington and the late Allen Spiegel (who at the time were bi-coastal art dealing partners).  At the time, I had already made a few purchases from Wally (including my very first piece of Arthur Adams art in 1985).  So I reached out to him and asked what pages were available.  He in turn asked me for a list, so I sent him one with about a dozen splashes from the series.  They ended up having 8 of the 12 on my list.  After they sent me the prices, they asked which ones I wanted and I think my answer shocked the hell out of them.  I said I would take them all.  But I wasn’t done yet.  I asked about any other Muth art and told me they had some oils from the 1986 science fantasy novel Winter Reckoning, plus the cover to the final Moonshadow issue.  After all was said and done, I ended up with an art package of 8 Moonshadow splashes, the issue #12 cover, and one of the oils from the novel. 

Now up to that point, I think the most I had ever spent with Wally was around $200.  So when I agreed to buy this 10-piece package, they probably weren’t sure what to make of me.  As a bit of background, whenever I tell my art collecting origin story, I like to begin with the line, “When I started collecting art, I was sweeping floors for $3.10 an hour.”  To be completely honest, I just do that for dramatic effect because it’s not an entirely true statement.  While I did start to collect comic art when I got my first job, by then I had already been elevated from sweeping to stockboy, then from stockboy to cashier.  But even my cashiering wage was a fraction of our current minimum wage.  Let me put it this way.  Just like Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, I was driving a crappy, blue, Chevy Nova.  Except mine made his look like a Rolls Royce.  Anyway, I won’t tell you what that art package cost.  But even at 1986 prices, I still had to make months and months of time payments to get it done. 

Of the eight splashes, after 40 years, I still own six of them.  I sold the worst of the eight and traded another one to a friend for my first piece of Jack Kirby art (not too shabby).  I sold the issue #12 cover because I was later told by Allen that due to a time crunch, the cover piece was actually just a cropped stat of a DPS in that issue that Jay (with some help from Kent Williams) just hand painted over with different colors.  I also sold the oil painting because I just wasn’t as enamored of Jay’s oils as I was his watercolors.  Two years later I bought the Doctor Strange painting from Allen.  And 20 years later, I bought the Moonshadow cornerbox art from someone on CAF. 

So yeah, it’s been almost 20 years since my last Muth piece.  Talk about a long drought.  Anyway, I think Malcolm has offered this one before during the last few CAF Lives.  I’ve always liked it, but I’m not big on doing international deals, so I always chose to just admire it from afar.  But when I decided to buy his Gulacy piece, I figured, why not?  So I just threw it in. 

My thanks yet again to Malcolm and to those of you who came by for a peek.