Over a thirty year career, Don Maitz has produced imaginative paintings that have amazed a worldwide audience. The iconic pirate character he created for Captain Morgan Spiced Rum is his most widely recognized work.
Most Don Maitz paintings present a story to viewers, who respond to the enticement and allure of the image. Use of design and color shape a mood, enhanced by details which combine to entertain the viewer, and engage them with the visual experience. Most works are painted with oil colors, in the painting techniques used by the old masters. Sometimes, experimentation and innovation give rise to unique applications of traditional media.
Past Don Maitz clients have included the National Geographic Society, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Random House Publishers, Harper Collins Publishers, Watson Guptill, Warner Books, Sony Online Entertainment, Penguin USA, Joseph Seagrams and Sons, TV Guide, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Brothers pictures. Don Maitz has twice won science fiction's Hugo award for best artist, a special Hugo for best artwork. He has received a Howard award, ten Chesley awards from his peers in the ASFA (Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists), an Inkpot award, a Silver Medal and certificates of merit from New York City's Society of Illustrators. His paintings have been exhibited at NASA's 25 Anniversary Show, in Cleveland OH, the Park Avenue Atrium, the Hayden Planetarium and the Society of Illustrators in New York City, NY, the New Britain Museum of American Art, CT, the Delaware Art Museum, DE, the Canton Art Museum, OH, the Florida International Museum and the South Florida Museum, FL.
Don Maitz artwork has enhanced products world wide, extending to books, magazines, jigsaw puzzles, mural wallpaper, limited edition prints, posters, calendars, screen savers, cards, and other merchandise. Two published books of his collected art work have sold out: First Maitz, and Dreamquests: The Art of Don Maitz.
His images have appeared in the Spectrum annual publications, in Fantasy Art Masters (volume one), Infinite Worlds, and The Chesley Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Art: A Retrospective. Don Maitz has illustrated books by Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, C. J. Cherryh, Raymond Feist, Alan Dean Foster, Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, and occasionally, his wife artist and author, Janny Wurts.
