Why Patreon                                             https://www.patreon.com/DouglasHenderson

Please consider joining my Patreon page.  The why of it is to set funding aside for the purpose of augmenting the expense of creating and publishing a number of books of personal interests—real books by off-set printing, mostly involving images and illustrations in b&w and color.

I’m generally known for my Paleo-art—depictions of ancient flora, fauna and landscapes—work known only because it often found a market.  A number of other projects and creative pursuits done over the years in the same single/simple minded approach didn’t find markets at all.  Much of this work looks like a hidden career to me now and I would like fashioning some of it into unique, and validating, art/earth history books.

The book themes (described below) reflect my interest in landscapes and photography, an illustrated children’s book (with dinosaurs), geology wedded to a sense of place, drawing, a design process and anything else in forms seeming different or going left undone.  Anyone becoming a patron will find I’m expecting you to be willing to exercise a good degree of delayed gratification—as the first book in mind won’t be fully finished and organized until late this year and then available in late 2021. Other books would follow, eventually including a retrospective of my own Paleo-art (hoping to include new works done in the meantime). 

My apologies if the tier rewards seem far off in time—I’m counting on US mail to deliver material items and want to keep the expenses from ballooning.  I will periodically (as noted in each tier) mail signed prints and original artwork to brave patrons.  In time, each book will be available in exchange for a year’s help—signed, with requested inscriptions and a title page drawing.

My Patreon tiers are set to give every supporter a book.  I ask for your help and hope you will be willing to bet on unique projects that take time, with the goal of having an interesting book in hand.


Brief description of proposed books

Book I  Yellowstone Through A Pinhole 
A collection of black and white (and some color) photographs taken with a variety of pinhole film cameras of landscapes, large and small, in Yellowstone National Park.  Some of the images would be of popular places and features—but most of the photography was done wandering far from roads on and off trails.  This has been a 10 year project and I want to finish gathering photos over the next year before distilling many thousands of photos into a much smaller selection—around 200.  The images depict the flora, rivers, valleys and views from high places through the seasons with some focus on the glacial and volcanic origins of the present landscapes in and around Yellowstone.  I'll mention more on the progress of the pinhole photography and selection over time.  Ten percent of the net profit from this book will go to a conservation group that is cooperatively involved with Yellowstone or to Yellowstone National Park directly. Depending on the success of the venture, the donation may change to ten percent of retail sales price.


Book II  untitled
A collection of drawings, field sketches and large-format B&W photography done during long wanderings in national parks and national forests in the Sierra Nevada over a 40 year period. Included would be a selection of Paleo-art based on drawings and impressions gleaned from many shoe-string summer/fall trips.  Text undetermined, but probably describing motives, interesting places and events, with some journal entries. Organizing all this will be interesting.  All the material exists, perhaps to be augmented with some Pleistocene depictions of the Sierra Nevada.  Ten percent of the net profit from this book will divided between conservation group that are cooperatively involved with Yosemite National Park and Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Park or to the parks directly.



Book III  untitled
An illustrated children’s book about a young pterosaur—written in 1982, then put away—thinking there were too many speculative elements. After seeing what feature films have done with paleontology, this doesn’t bother me any longer. Doing the book myself means I don’t need to conform to anyone else’s concerns for the consistency of the artwork. 


Book IV  Pleistocene Yellowstone
A collection of doodles, drawings and more finished images in ink, watercolor and oil depicting Yellowstone over the 2 million span of the Pleistocene--the Mudpie Project.  I realize people will expect scenes with animals.