Graycliff Illustration

As a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan, I was thrilled to work with the Graycliff Conservancy on this illustration. It is the summer home sitting on the Lake Erie shore designed for the Darwin Martin family from Buffalo, New York completed in 1931. It was saved from demolition in the late '90's, was renovated and now welcomes thousands of visitors annually.

I first became aware of the Graycliff Estate when the gift shop manager, Ryan, purchased some of my cards and prints thru Etsy wholesale for the gift shop. I mentioned that I previously illustrated the Park Inn Hotel and Bank by Frank Lloyd Wright in Mason City, Iowa for their gift shop and asked if they'd be interested in cards and prints of Graycliff. The board approved and Ryan took numerous photos for me since I live so far away. Although now I really want to visit!

One of many photos taken this Spring

The estate is spectacular. My favorite design features the first floor windows that show the lake view from the front of the house thru the back of the house. I added a couple tree trunk silhouettes to try to get the point across. Another unique feature is the use of local limestone that contains iron. Some of the stones in the house and in the pond area have brownish rust streaks to illustrate that.

Here's my pencil that went thru some tweaks before the color version.

pencil drawing

It was wonderful working with Ryan who advised me thru the project. I just got the cards printed and prints made and sent to the Graycliff Estate gift shop.