Revisiting the cover

Proceeding at a snails pace I've managed to work on this book project. I'm of course an amateur artist and getting my feet wet while tackling this crazy idea is fun but scary. Although I painted the cover of the newly covered book one aspect of the painting I had over looked came looming to reality. I painted... let it dry and then opened the book to find it was upside down. I chalk it up to the whole transformation process of the book itself.

The painting of the cover was last night's work so this morning I have worked on the first page within the book. The inspiration came from a dream I had in which I was watching Monet's Starry Night sky swirling around above me. Like time lapsed photography the constellations marched across the sky like they had somewhere else to go.  Here I show you the process.

First the lighter wash that would become the clouds in the night sky with a lighter blue. On top of the light wash is a darker one applied with a brush with splayed bristles (looks like a fan) enabling the light wash to come through. I used sweeping motions to create movement for the stars to be applied next.

And lastly the ground below, black with darkness with only the trees, my house and barn to be seen. There also is small details (my lens isn't good enough to capture them) like smoke from a chimney and slight detail in the trees using Davey's Gray to give it a low contrast.

I do have something different in mind for the next page. But there needs to be a consideration of how thin the pages are and if I'll be able to utilize both sides of the pages. Once this first page (which is thicker than the actually pages with text) is dried completely, I'll have to do an assessment of the situation.