My regular readers will notice that I have changed the photo at the top of the blog page from a man walking through a plaza to the top of the Nelwin waterwheel. I don't know where the plaza photo came from, but I took the waterwheel photo. I love the colors in it, though it is simply oak and plaster. Let me know what you think of it. Other pictures taken at Newlin can be found at Newlingristmill.org, or the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/newlingristmill.
I have finally finished my Holiday story. I write one every year, create a cover for it and send it out in place of Holiday cards. So now I am working on the cover design. The story includes a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson and an early 20 century housewife. I own the book in question, so I may photograph or sketch it. Let me think about that for a few more days.
I put together a series of my Emily short stories into a collection. I doubt that I shall ever interest a commercial publisher in it. I will do it myself if I need to. That means a cover design. I can fool around with artworks, good enough for a card but I am no were near accomplished enough to do a cover myself.
The back side of my search is copyright. I need photos that either I took myself, have permission to use or that are out of copyright. But that's a whole different blog.
I have the title typed out in a combinations of fonts that I like, and that is unique. I have been prowling through line drawing that are out of copyright. Maybe I can set an image of Emily against a background of a Victorian interior, or a scroll design. Maybe a Morris floral pattern.
Dover press has some lovely background designs in its catalog. I will take a look.
People who write generally are involved in other arts. Drawing and painting has been my other interest but I have not invested the time in it that I would need to be really good at it. Three of my family members were professional artists, at least for a time. I turned to writing.
If you are a writer, I'd love to hear from you about how your covers came to be. If you are a reader, what is it you like or dislike about a cover?