MONDAY DAWNED WITH MY GROANING ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the possible existence of writer's block. So I hurried to the office in hopes that my list of story ideas would jump start my day. No such luck. As I sipped the last of my coffee while answering email, a package landed soundlessly at my elbow. My worries were over, at least temporarily, when I discovered inside a copy of "Blackstock's Collections: The Drawings of an Artistic Savant" by Gregory L. Blackstock.

The first chapter, "Our Famous Birds," begins with a page of owls drawn with such precise detail that anyone paying the slightest bit of attention will never again confuse a Barred Owl with a Great Snowy. After pages of eagles, crows, roosters and turkeys came The North American State Birds. The tall vertical drawing (53 inches high in its original form) is jammed with 32 birds, all seemingly drawn in proportion to each other. Variants, purple- and gold- finches for example, are placed side by side to ensure that the viewer will quickly distinguish their differences.

Only after I had paged through the entire book, comprised of subjects like "Fish & the Like," "The Major Forestry Pests," "The Iraqi War Tanks," and "The Classical Clowns" did I read the book's introduction. Turns out Blackstock is a retired pot-scrubber who held down the same job for 25 years at Seattle's Washington Athletic Club, and who is autistic.

A self-taught artist, Blackstock began creating his visual lists in 1986, perhaps as a way to identify and compartmentalize things most people take for granted. For example, his page of mackerels beguilingly shows subtle differences and similarities, enabling the viewer to see the distinctive features of sixteen different variations of the species. Plants and animals are drawn with near-scientific precision, except for a page of ants, which have a comic quality. But you have to wonder if ants naturally antic in appearance, or was Blackstock just having a little fun.

His interests range far and wide, from old-time freight cars, race cars and "Law-&-Order Authority Vans" to "World Landmark Towers" and "Things to Wear," including shoes and baseball uniforms. Like many autistic savants, Blackstock draws from memory; having seen an item once is enough.

Blackstock's prodigious memory, which enabled him to learn six or more of the languages spoken by his co-workers in the kitchen, helped him remember eighteen or more tooth patterns of saws on just two visits to his local Home Depot. He has also accumulated a repertoire of hundreds of songs which he plays on his accordion at ad hoc outdoor appearances all over Seattle. According to his autobiography, in list form, naturally, Blackstock has led an interesting life, with plenty of travel (22 vacation destinations listed), a quite notable amateur bowling record, and various awards (including a paper route prize in 1967). Gregory L. Blackstock will be on hand to sign copies of his book on October 5th at the opening of his exhibit at Seattle's Garde Rail Gallery. In the meantime, I plan to be more artistic when compiling my lists of story ideas for DART.

Illustration courtesy of Princeton Architectural Press and the Garde Rail Gallery.