Ted Rand's original artwork and signed children's books.

1915-2005
Ted Rand illustrated over 75 books for children, about a dozen of which were written by his wife, Gloria . At three to five books per year, Ted was scheduled well into his hundreds, especially if he slowed down to one or two books as he swears he would.

Ted began to draw as soon as he could get hold of paper and a pencil. He knew drawing was for him when he saw the engravings on the family Bible of the Parting of the Red Sea, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Destruction of the Temple, and so on. He did all of the holiday decorations in elementary school from pumpkins and witches, to turkeys, Santas, and Easter Bunnies, and got out of class to do them. By the time he entered high school he knew how to use his skills to his advantage.

After graduating, he took a handful of drawings to a department store and was hired to draw their newspaper advertisements. It was a great training ground and Ted became a freelance illustrator interupted by four years as an aerial navigator in the Navy during WWII. After the war, he taught illustration for over twenty years at the University of Washington while working as a freelancer.

Ted was written about in Life magazine in the sixties series about artists that included Jackson Pollack. He has painted portraits of governors, corporation heads, university presidents, and kings of Saudi Arabia for the 747 jet owned by King Khalid.

At the age of 70, Ted started illustrating books for children after being inspired by a pack trip to the Olympic rain forests of Washington. He started by doing a number of books for Bill Martin, Jr.

Ted lived with his wife Gloria Rand outside of Seattle on Mercer Island, Wa.

We'll miss you Ted, we already do.

TED RAND PASSES AT 89!
Ted Rand is no longer with us in life
but his books and his spirit will
be with us forever.

It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Ted Rand on Saturday March 13th, 2005. Ted was a master at his craft and will be missed by those of us that knew him personally and by all who knew him through the over 80 children's books that he illustrated. Ted has been suffering from the ravages of cancer for the last year and a half and it finally won against a very strong opponent. Check out this wonderful newspaper article on his life and his yearlong fight with numerous cancers.

I consider it an honor and a great pleasure to have known Ted and to represent his artwork to the Northwest and the world. Many an art director from around the country, and around the world, would stop in to marvel at how effortless Ted made it look. Ted told me hoped they knew it wasn't effortless.

When I opened Art of Illustration, Ted Rand was the first to answer my call for artists. I knew he was a true professional as we scheduled our very first show of children's book artwork. The first day I hung the artwork from Jean Craighead George's Nutik, the Wolf Pup, an out of town visitor walked in and bought 3 of the original paintings.

Ted was my best selling artist and
I always treasured our interactions.
I will continue to represent his artwork for as long as his wife
Gloria allows me. I wouldn't hesitate though, as there will obviously be
no more created and in the last
few months Ted donated a large
part of his original artwork to
various children's book museums and libraries around the country.

I'll miss you Ted.

We still have a number of his signed books available.