I did not personally know Darren Reeves but it is always a sad day when we learn that a colleague in the small world of hand engravers has passed away, especially at an early age.
For those not familiar with Darren's work, I have attached an image of a knife he engraved.
Sad news.
Darren Reeves and i were hired by Gary Gist and trained together in the summer of 77 or 78 at Gist engravers in Vacaville californa by Ethan Jacczak and Ken Moore.
Out of a class of a dozen or so art students trained at Gist in the art of western engraving , Darren , myself and a young woman whos name i dont recall (Jennifer?) were the only ones to graduate to bench work.
We were friends and rivals, we were always stealing each others tools.
We were literally competing against each other everyday trying to be the best of the " New Kids"
I am sorry he is gone.
Here is a pic featuring Darren from the FEGA show at the Sands in 1993 0r thereabouts,
In the front row L to R is Gilbert Ray, Ethan Jacczak and myself.
Darren is directly behind me, the second from the right in the back row: