When Aumsville artist Don White was asked to illustrate best-selling author Bob Welch’s new book, Seven Summers (and a Few Bummers), his answer was a resounding, “Heck, yeah!”
Seven Summers explores the journey of two brothers-in-law in their 60s who complete the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail. “Poignant, poetic and downright funny” has been ascribed to the story, which Rees Hughs, co-editor of several PCT books, calls “refreshingly bumpy.”
“Pure trail magic” is what former PCT hiker and author, Noah Strycker, called the book. Author A. Lynn Ash, called it a “can’t-put-it-down trek along America’s western backbone.”
White became aware of Welch’s writing when reading a Christian family magazine while attending seminary in Texas.
“I loved his style, his message and his humor,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine that I’d be illustrating his book 30 years later.”
Both award winners in their own fields, the two met while speaking at a Eugene writers conference but barely kept in touch until last December.
“He saw my artwork online before Christmas and asked if I’d do an updated portrait of him,” White said. “Then, weeks later, he got the idea of using drawn illustrations for his newest writing project – a memoir of his hike from Mexico to Canada. I’d done some illustrations for my own book, A Plymouth Pilgrim, and was eager to do more for someone else’s project.”
The men met at the Red Robin restaurant in Albany to hash out Welch’s visions for the illustrations, which to White sounded like fun.
“Burgers with a big side of book-planning became a kind of tradition as we worked out the project,” he said.
“He was great to work with, and we had a lot in common – our faith, optimism, a love for books and writing, and a deep appreciation for the people and scenery of the Pacific Northwest. So, I’d like to think we became good friends in the process.”
A longtime columnist for the Eugene Register Guard, Welch has written more than two dozen books since 1993.
“He’s got lots of good stories,” said White, who also has a litany of awards and recognitions. “You can’t get bored around Bob. He’s a high energy guy who’s got to be busy. His enthusiasm rekindled a passion for my own projects sitting too long on the backburners. I’ve mostly been painting of late, so it was great getting reacquainted with my pens again.”
White calls art and writing “isolated activities”. Collaborating, he said, was a “refreshing change of pace.”
“Welch scrapped his previous cover idea and, just days before the deadline, we scrambled to create something worthy of this epic adventure,” he said. “We think it looks great.”
As a teen, White began painting with a beginner’s Grumbacher paint set purchased from a Sears catalog. In high school and college, he supplemented his income by drawing portraits. He’d planned on art as a career, but when he found himself studying psychology and theology, art became “a personal therapy amidst the challenges of church ministry.”
His paintings are often landscapes of the lush northwest – “windows to a world of nature and peaceful reminders of where we belong.” Whether untamed wilderness or rural pastorals, he hopes to nurture an inner peace through his images, offering moments of spiritual escape amidst a complicated world.
White’s “Christmas in Ukraine,” a tribute to the war-torn country, took first place in a recent Keizer Art Association art show. He was also named KAA’s Artist of the Month in August.
As a theologian, White says spirituality always informs his art.
“Whether music, literature, sculpture, or crayon stick figures, creative expression is stitched into our spiritual DNA by the Ultimate Artist,” White said. “May we all celebrate and nurture that creative inheritance planted within from the start.”
Find White and his artwork at www. donaldwaynewhite.com or on his Creative Fire Facebook page. Welch’s books are available at bobwelchwriter.com.
