Gary W. Cupp is a Tulsa-based artist who creates images of nature and mechanical objects using pen and ink. He has won numerous awards at art shows in Tulsa, McAlister, Wagoner, Muskogee, and Bartlesville.

ExhibITion: Pen & Ink Unique is a collection of Gary’s artwork depicting steam trains, tractors, automobiles, WWII equipment, airplanes, and landscapes.

From a young age, Gary had a passion for drawing mechanical objects in ball point pen and pencil. Following a career in mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and manufacturing, he took a drawing class and used his drafting experience to begin creating art in pen and ink. He later added color to his art using colored pencils, inks, pastels, and watercolors.

“I enjoy the intricate design, the light and the dark, and color if it’s there. I like to be able to take a ruler and make a straight line, do ellipses, use all my tools,” Gary says. “There are four things I don’t draw—faces, fur, feathers, and flowers,” he adds.

“Steam trains have always interested me because of their physical size; their mechanical, electrical, metal working, and steam power; and the image of a beautiful mechanical object. I recently observed several of my favorite restored and operational steam engines at Ely, Nevada, with the Nevada Northern Railway.”

The opening of exhibITion: Pen & Ink Unique will benefit OKC Midtown Rotary, which supports arts education in the community. All ticket sales and 10 percent of art sales benefit OKC Midtown Rotary. The brewery sponsor for the opening is Cross Timbers Brewing Co.