Ken Stark of rural La Farge, Richland County, has illustrated a new book, “Seeing the Elephant: A Story of the Civil War,” by Pat Hughes.

The first area book signing will be at Bramble Bookstore in Viroqua on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m.

Stark will talk about his work and the book. At 7:45 p.m. he will hold a book signing. There will also be a first-time showing of a few of the original watercolor paintings from the book.

This is his first book of watercolors. Previous works were in casein or acrylic, and this is the longest book he has worked on to date, 40 pages of text. There are 21 watercolors plus three backgrounds.

Another unique feature of the book, Stark used two local residents as models for the two main characters.

“Ken normally paints people from imagination,” said Chris Stark, Ken’s wife, research assistant and business manager. “However, in “Seeing the Elephant: A Story of the Civil War,” he used models for Izzie’s and Graff’s faces due to the close-ups.”

Izzie, a young boy who wishes he could join the Union Army during the Civil War is Emmett Kehoe-Scott.

Ken and Chris Stark were in the Viroqua Food Co-op a couple of years ago, and they saw Emmett in the store.

They asked his mother, Mary Kehoe, if Emmett could sit for the illustrations.

“It was fun,” said Emmett and “I would do it again.”

Instead of having Emmett sit for long hours while Stark painted his likeness, Stark took four rolls of film of Emmett from every angle. The face and expressions were especially important for the book.

Emmett said Izzie reminds him of himself, because he is “curious about stuff.”

The likeness of Griffin Kyle, a private in the Confederate Army, was a good friend of the Starks, Robert Schultz.

“I was helping out a friend,” said Schultz, “and I would do it again for Ken.”

Schultz met the Starks while he was looking for a home in their area.

“We connected right away,” said Schultz.

He went on to say it was nice that his son could “look at daddy in a book.”

“The book is great,” said Schultz. “I love Ken and Chris and their simple way of life.”

Stark has illustrated “Growing Seasons” and “Orphan Train” and he wrote and illustrated his childhood autobiography “Oh, Brother!”

He is currently working on another book he has been asked to write and illustrate.

Illustrations copyright ©2007 Ken Stark. Used with permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, N.Y.