Spent the weekend working on a cover concept illustrating Doc Holliday's last years in Colorado, which is being written by Doctor Gary Roberts, the foremost expert on Doc. I am going to do "Doc Holliday's Last Gunfight" for Classic Gunfights which was in Leadville, the two miles high mining town. I'm thinking of these headlines:
• Sky High Gunfight
• Two Miles High Gunfight
• Doc Holliday's Last Gunfight
After the OK Corral Fight Doc Landed in Leadville Where the Lead Flew
• Pasty, Cantankerous, Dyin' & Still Willin"
Doc Holliday's Last Years in Colorado
I'm doing a painting of this image (below), but here is the rough sketch which has some potential perhaps all by itself?
![](http://api.ning.com:80/files/*oWmhl7LBlXM4DsFd3oYzS4JST8GNvpLWKrTbh-TLrxRi31I*ciXGQwBtMU4Rp0C2c-NeVgag3hToH7Qt4q6clxh0q6ouC0r/doccobw.jpg)
Here is my first crack at this idea:
![](http://api.ning.com:80/files/*oWmhl7LBlXnWlZy3DPKRZI4RetRxrzlyDXWo5KWT6RYohnLRsreDwMsjcP2jwUSk2Skw1NEgitcNahlWsjL5Ck6vslstx5-/dochollidayslastgunfight_3.jpg)
And here is a study to illustrate Doc Holliday's Last Gunfight (The legend, that is):
![](http://api.ning.com:80/files/*oWmhl7LBlVDWyXj5lbVXPZyRopNjF85*HmkNbnSjgjJtQNfs3EMMVjYYDnIflwArU5iIedlFpzRO3u9NZij64wG9X8Gd3yr/doclastgunfight_02.jpg)
A little bit of a red nose, but the guy was a roaring alcoholic! Finished this before I came into work this morning. Don't tell anyone but I poached the stance from a poster for the Matrix. Ha. Meanwhile, here is a version I did earlier of this same idea. This is how we WANT to see him, although the reality of his last gunfight is a stumbling, bumbling one-way shootout. Here's another version of the legend::
![](http://api.ning.com:80/files/*oWmhl7LBlWaBaUmdCdGGoA4EBLoeUKKQqGmoCwIfL-z3t8XzldIrekASueRKy*jUwNmD9CSoy-*pvGFDVS6TAoYZ9m1cnuz/doclastgunfight.jpg)
Any of these ring your chimes?
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
—John Cage