Grand Foundation seeks to improve the quality of life in Grand County (Colorado) by proactively addressing current and future needs in the areas of Health & Human Services, Arts & Culture, Education, Amateur Sports and Environment.

It was a fun commission to paint a pirate ship for them. I spent some time researching about the Queen Anne's Revenge. Years ago, when I was visiting Cape Hatteras, I read about Mr. Edward Drummond.

Edward began his career as an honest seaman, sailing out of his home port of Bristol, England. After he became a pirate, he began calling himself Edward Teach. Records indicate that his name was also recorded as Thatch, Tache, and Tatch. His first high adventure happened during Queen Anne's War (1701-1713). During the later-end of it, he served on a privateer vessel sailing out of Kingston, Jamaica - authorized to attack French shipping. It has been speculated that, the routine of peace following the excitement of warfare unsettled Edward Teach. Through the years that followed, Edward earned a reputation as an invincible terror of the seas.

No matter what his reason's were for chosing a pirate's life, the end result was ugly, and full of would-be legends such as Lieutenant Robert Maynard chasing him. But Maynard's sloop drafted shallow enough for North Carolina's Ocracoke Inlet, and one day surprised Blackbeard. A fascinating battle ensued, one that drove off Blackbeard's spirit from among the living - leaving a body with twenty-five wounds, and five taken from pistol-shot. Like an ode to his own ego (and a twisted notion of trophy), Maynard severed Edward's head and suspended it beneath the bowsprit of his sloop. That was November, 1718.

Oddly enough, 288 years later, I'm painting a 36" by 48" canvas for non-profit Grand Foundation's Blackbeard's Ball, and it is Halloween 2006! Whatever Mr. Drummond has done in the past, he sort of helped me today. It is his legend that brings this assignment to our studio. So to flavor it up, I listened to the "Hook" soundtrack, and "Bram Stocker's Dracula." I've only a week to turn-around the picture. It's been a really interesting assigment.

In 1997, under the direction of the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, archaeologists began exploring the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck. Also look at National Geographic's Interactive Wrecksite.