[Writing Post] Into the Sunset – Darrell K. Sweet 1934-2011
With a sad heart, I’m doing this week’s Writer Post a day early. Last night, Jimmy and I heard of the passing of artist Darrell K. Sweet. This is a passing that was both completely sudden and completely expected — and completely devastating. Darrell K. Sweet was not only a brilliant artist; he was one of the loveliest men I’ve ever met.
I met Darrell K. Sweet at FenCon III in 2006. Jimmy and I weren’t quite engaged yet. Darrell was our Artist Guest of Honor. I was just starting out doing GOH stuff for FenCon. I had to write and mail him a letter about his preferences because he didn’t do email. He actually found that fascinating that someone would take the time to actually WRITE a letter anymore.
We took the Monday after FenCon off to show Darrell and his lovely wife, Janet – who passed almost two years ago – around the Fort Worth Stockyards. They were amazing. I know I learned a lot about Western Art that day. And while Darrell was talking to one of the cattle wranglers that work the Stockyards, I made friends with the horse. It tried to follow me home.
Darrell and Janet invited us to visit them if we ever got out to Wyoming…which we tried to do on our Honeymoon in 2007 during the Massive Honeymoon Roadtrip through the Western US. What we failed to do was check the calendar. This was late July/early August. Cody, WY was overrun with motorcycles – since it’s on the only decent road between Northern California and Sturgis, South Dakota. Hello….Harley. It was also the weekend Darrell was the Artist GOH for Archon. When we were there, they were in St. Louis. D’OH!
Fortunately, we were able to see Darrell one last time at SoonerCon this past June. We learned of Janet’s passing and Darrell’s own health issues. He seemed small and frail to me at the time – and I wasn’t alone. When Teddy Harvia and Diana, his wife, invited us out to dinner with Darrell – we did it (in a heartbeat). It was an amazing conversation, an amazing dinner, and a beautiful memory.
Darrell’s art was…astounding. Of all the books that influenced me – he did the covers for a majority of them. Even though I never knew that until I started dating Jimmy. NEVER EVER play “name that cover artist” with Jimmy. He will win EVERY time. We have at least one piece of Darrell’s art in our home. It hangs in our office watching over our desks. We both love that piece. It was the cover to the FenCon Program book.
In our last conversation with Darrell, he talked about his granddaughter, the projects he was still working on – and the projects he still wanted to do. He’d just been approached for Texas 2013’s WorldCon bid. He was ready to take on the world. I joked with him that he needed to stick around long enough to do a cover for me.
Darrell’s passing leaves a major void in the art world. His work and his memory will live on. He leaves behind a huge legacy for younger artists to strive for. Sir, as you take your last ride into the sunset, hug Janet for us when you see her again, and know we’ll miss you.