Cover Reveal for The Blue Pool....or there was a Flapping Gull, a Flying Fish and a Fierce Pirate who........

 

This blog post is doing double duty......both a cover reveal for the latest middle grade adventure, The Blue Pool, by Rosalyn Rikel Ramage and a bit about some of the artwork done by yours truly.

I've been lucky enough to illustrate three other titles for Rosalyn,......The Tracks, The Windmill and The Graveyard. 

 

 

All are about the fictional adventures of a real family set in 1914 western Kentucky. Rosalyn weaves lovely fiction with down home details and a lively dash of fantasy adventure. This latest installment mixes together a talking fish named Jewel,

 

a helpful gull named Quoddy,

 with a dash of a treasure stealing pirate named Gustav

 

 

...and well you'll just have to read the story to see how they all come together!

The three black and white character sketches above, were tightened up and rendered in ink along with a couple of other black and white sketches of important scenes in the book. After inking in the lines, I scanned them in, cleaned them up, and they were ready to send off.

 

I really enjoyed the challenge of painting the cover. I used acrylic paints on some bristol board using strong brush strokes to give the foliage energy. I contrasted that with the stillness of the blue pool right before being disturbed by Little Will's dangerous slipping and sliding into the deep blue pool waters. This was done with multiple glazing to show the depth of the water.

I so appreciated getting to work on this project.....it was a blast to get to follow along with Emma Mae's latest adventures.