"With her artwork, Erin Wells isn't merely offering compositions with figures, objects, scenery. She's creating visions that extend beyond the picture plane. Each viewer carries away from the experience of viewing her work something different to ponder and enjoy as time passes."
—Alan M. Clark, author of the Jack the Ripper Victims series and The Paint in My Blood"Erin Wells has the rare ability to not only faithfully capture the physical world in all of its flowing beauty, atmospheric complexity and inescapable horror, but also to reveal the latent spiritual energies inherent in all material forms. In her rich, autumnal art there is no separation between the dark, decaying natural landscape where stories unfold and the characters acting out their lives in that landscape. As an author, it is an amazing experience to see what she makes of a fictional narrative, dragging it from the ethereal realms of pure imagination and into the real, tactile world of the senses. In a single scene, she can capture the entire mood and flow of a story, the unique personalities of the characters, the dramas defining their lives, and the fates that await them. The domains she illustrates are vividly animated with not only supposedly static objects such as houses, tombstones, etc. (although she makes even those come alive), but also with evocative leaves swirling through the almost visible air, billowing mist rising and falling as if the ground itself were breathing, whirling swarms of strangely agitated birds, palpable dampness and coldness, murky, obscured light, ominously grasping tree branches, and—most remarkable—weird ghostly forms that materialize from the shadows before our eyes. It's a highly Gothic world, and yet not one rigidly wedded to the past; there are beat up pickup trucks as well as hoary crypts. Erin Wells brings her strong artistic vision to every image she creates."
—David Barker, author of Little Gray Bastards: The Incessant Alien Presence, with Jordan Hofer, and three volumes of Lovecraftian fiction, with W.H. Pugmire"Erin Wells possesses the extraordinary ability to weave the visible world of ordinary objects and things with the animating energy and the spirit of things that lies behind, unseen. Combining exceptional skill with sensitivity and thoughtfulness, she seamlessly blends these differing realities into compelling and provocative images. As a former instructor of Ms. Wells, it's been exciting to watch her develop into such an accomplished and respected painter and illustrator. With imagery often drawn from her own life and experience, her paintings and drawings have always had a knack for capturing the expressive essence of an accompanying narrative. At the same time, her images are capable of telling complex and compelling stories on their own, without the scaffolding of words."
—John Beckelman, Robert O. Daniel Emeritus Professor of Art, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa"I have known Erin Wells since 1985 when a slight, shy young woman entered the art department at Coe College where I taught. Several years later she decided, astutely I believe, to leave the Midwest and pursue her development. Once again, she excelled and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree in illustration. She has continued to be asked to illustrate books by Cemetery Dance Publications and Dark Renaissance Press, working with various authors. An indication of her recent development is this book of her illustrations by SST Publications. Clearly, she has developed into one of the finest illustrators of this genre."
—Robert L. Kocher, Marvin D. Cone Professor of Art Emeritus, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa