New Ipswich painter and illustrator Shannon Stirnweis died at home on Sunday at 87 years old.
Stirnweis, whose art has served as covers for Harlequin romances and western paperbacks, discovered his prostate cancer had spread to his bones and lymph nodes in a scan in August, his wife, Regina Stirnweis said in an interview Wednesday. He died in hospice care at home, with Regina caring for him.
Stirnweis was one of the founders of the Graphic Artists Guild, and illustrated more than 35 children’s books, as well as three books on painting, and wrote his own book, “80 Years Behind the Brush,” detailing his life as an artist.
Stirnweis’ art has appeared in many subscription magazines, including Argosy, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Boy’s Life, Reader’s Digest, Show, Popular Mechanics, Time, American Legion and Guidepost. He also was also a successful gallery artist and illustrator of children’s books. He was perhaps best known for his paintings of the American West and had a particular fondness for Native American portraits.
Regina and Shannon met when she was working in an art studio in New York City, where Shannon’s roommate also worked.
Stirnweis started his artistic career as an adman in New York, working as a sketch artist for Compton Advertising, and later as a freelancer.
“He was busy. Always busy,” Regina said. “Sometimes he’d have to work all night to meet deadlines.”
But painting was his greatest joy, she said. Many of his works hang in their home. Regina is quick to identify her favorite, a romantic painting of a man and a woman that hangs in their bedroom.
Though he liked his Western scenes best, Regina said, Shannon didn’t have a particular favorite painting.
In fact, she said, he was the type of artist who never considered his works quite done. He was often taking his finished works off the wall to do last-minute tweaks and changes, Regina said.
“It would drive me crazy,” she said.
As his illness progressed and he didn’t have the energy to paint an entire work any longer, he continued to “nit-pick” his previously finished work, she said.
“He really was a workaholic,” Regina said. “He always wanted to be painting.”
One of their first dates, she recalled, they went to the Bronx Zoo on Easter Sunday on a double date. They were dressed up for the holiday, and though Shannon and his friend took picture after picture that day, they were all of the animals – for painting reference.
“And not a single picture of us,” Regina said with a laugh. “The animals. That’s what they were concerned with.”
After sixty years of marriage, Regina said they’d had their squabbles, most of which later turned into inside jokes and oft-revisited anecdotes to get a laugh out of later.
“We never really fought,” she said. “He was a joy to be around. I don’t think I could have taken someone who was temperamental. He was a very easy-going person.”
Services for Stirnweis will be private. Donations can be made in his name to Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.