Left: one of the fake book covers I created for the raffle at this event. Bookboard, bookcloth, decorative paper and a brush pen and gouache painting on Claybord™. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
MCBA is having a fundraiser: Unabashedly Bookish Bash, Saturday July 28, 2012; 7 to 10 p.m. See the link for complete details and ticket costs.
A couple months ago MCBA sent out old book covers and asked artists to alter them and donate them to their fundraiser.
I took the cover they sent me along with 5 other "covers" I built and created 6 fake book covers. If you read my blogs you know I love making fake book covers.
Ever since I began designing real books I've also made fake book covers in my spare time. These covers blend the visual with written word in a way that pleases me, without a client, or an author to satisfy. Typically now I work digitally, like this fake cover I did of "Year of the French Bulldog."
But because I was given an actual back cover of a book I thought it would be fun to make physical book covers like I did years ago before the computer made working digitally so simple. Going "physical" also allowed me to go dimensional with the addition of thicker collage elements as well as paintings on Claybord™. For some covers I used archival prints of my sketches and in other instances, like the one shown here, included actual paintings. For some covers I relied on the computer to set type and on others I resorted to rubberstamps.
I encourage you to attend the fundraiser, support MCBA, and pick up a little whimsy from me or one of the many other book artists who have donated their work for this goal. It's sure to be an art-filled evening celebrating the book and MCBA!
In other news: I will be offering an on-line class about working with these techniques sometime in 2013—as soon as I can work out how best to offer an online class, so keep checking in for details. I realized while doing the paintings and construction of these covers that because of drying times it would be too cumbersome to schedule this for a multi-part class. An on-line class seems the perfect way to include instructions, photos, and videos. If you already teach online classes and have any suggestions about set up I'd love to hear from you. Currently I've been looking at Ning as a site to build on.
