Scuba Diving
What kind of nut would strap on 75 pounds of scuba diving equipment, jump into the rough ocean, descend down over 100 feet into murky water fighting a ripping current, navigate around a 200 foot shipwreck and sketch the ship and its details on a dive slate holding on to whatever can be grasped and not be swept away? Oh yea, and having only 20 minutes to do so before running out of air. Oh, that would be me!
Prior to 1996, detailed illustrations of the shipwrecks off the Broward county coast in South Florida were not available. I was working part time as a Divemaster for my friend, Mike Halprin, aboard his dive charter boat, The Seahorse. He mentioned that having illustrations of the wrecks would be extremely helpful for dive briefings. I took up the challenge and produced charts for several of the most popular shipwrecks. For the complete story visit: Wrecks of South Florida.
Prior to 1996, detailed illustrations of the shipwrecks off the Broward county coast in South Florida were not available. I was working part time as a Divemaster for my friend, Mike Halprin, aboard his dive charter boat, The Seahorse. He mentioned that having illustrations of the wrecks would be extremely helpful for dive briefings. I took up the challenge and produced charts for several of the most popular shipwrecks. For the complete story visit: Wrecks of South Florida.
Shipwreck Collector Series 001
Shipwreck Collector Series 002
Shipwreck Collector Series 003
The Shipwreck Collector Series and Dive Chart Collector Series illustrations were created from the original wreck drawings and charts I produced. Transformed here into cool graphics for posters and prints and available at Jim's Gallery Store
The Mercedes I was inspired by one of my first wreck dives. This ship has quite an interesting story that goes back to its grounding in Palm Beach, Florida. This Painting was illustrated in watercolor.
As a scuba diver and environmentalist, I know that sharks are vital to the health of the world's oceans. Every creature is like a gear in a watch, one breaks or is eliminated and the watch won't work.
The Ultimate Dive Boat-Designed by Jim Stilwell
The Ultimate Dive Boat is a fantasy concept I designed for fun and was inspired by Jacques Cousteau documentaries I watched when I was a kid. For the fascinating story go to my link: Designing the Ultimate Dive Boat
Dive Deep. For more scuba diving adventures visit: Shark,
I think we need a bigger boat and The Delray Wreck
Dive Chart Collector Series 001
Dive Chart Collector Series 002
Dive Chart Collector Series 003
The Encounter was painted in acrylic from a photo that appeared in Skin Diver magazine years ago. This is in my private collection and not for sale because I created it from someone elses photo. I have never encountered a whale shark in my years of diving but my wife Edrianna has and if you would like to read a story of devotion read the story in Shark. I hope to have the opportunity to dive with one of these magnificent creatures and hopfully I'll have enough film in my camera.
