Musings on Mother's Day
A special gallery for Audrey
The Center of the Whelan Universe
There would be no Michael Whelan as we know him without Audrey Price.
I’ve touched on their fateful origin before. While looking for a room to rent, Michael answered an ad and stumbled upon a soul mate and muse. She read science fiction and listened to Kraftwerk. What more is there to tell about their instant connection?
What you may not know about Audrey is that she owned a day care center when they met. Audrey’s mother Pat was from Wales. Her father Walter was a CPA. The family became the biggest supporters of Michael early in his career.
Audrey shared her father’s practicality—and often his business advice—as they navigated conventions and positioned Michael’s work to be seen. She was right there next to Michael in his meteoric rise to the top.
In 1979, Audrey started Glass Onion Graphics. The name is borrowed from her other great love, the Beatles. As the primary publisher of Michael’s prints, the business grew from a mail order catalog to a retail gallery and then a website.
We don’t talk enough about Audrey’s contributions over the past 50 years. She is and has always been Michael’s secret weapon. When you see original art, it’s through her eyes, from the frame it sits in to where it hangs in the gallery. Her taste is exquisite, and she makes everything that she touches better.
Certainly not the least of her accomplishments has been as a mother to Alexa (Dr. Price-Whelan) and Adrian (the other Dr. Price-Whelan). When I asked Audrey if she had any requests for the newsletter this weekend, naturally she provided a list of paintings of the kids.
I’m pleased to present those paintings along with the happiest of wishes for Mother’s Day to you all, but particularly to Audrey, Alexa, Lauren, and to my mother Nancy. You are the center of the universe to your children, and I hope you all feel the enormity of that love today.
Michael Everett
Weekly Art Recap
Yours Truly - a Star Wars illustration for My Jedi Journal
Lumen 6.2 - finding the light is a matter of perspective in this personal work
Perilous Star - preliminary for At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
Memories of a Distant Sea - a personal work experimenting with an oval canvas
Algul Siento - interior illustration for The Dark Tower by Stephen King
High Flier - the first Leftover & Palette Gremlin from the 2018 gallery
Coming Soon…
Join us for another bone-chilling Whelan Wednesday as we fall into the grip terror of an interior illustration for At the Mountains of Madness.
An exclusive preview of the original art releasing this week will be available for our paid subscribers on Substack before the art is released in our shop on Wednesday, May 14 at 11am ET.
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Much love and a Happy Mother's Day to Audrey!!! I met her at Glass Onion graphics in the late 80s and still marvel at her impeccable taste in frames and framing. Our pieces of Michael's art would not be the same without her touch.
A big round of applause for my friend, Audrey. She is a remarkable woman...and lest we forget, during the 1960s she was the president of our local Danbury chapter of The Beatles Fan Club.