Journal

Painting the Record Cover

I really enjoyed painting the cover of my first record so I thought I’d paint this one too. It’s a way of processing the journey of making the music, of bringing the whole experience together in a final creative gesture.

I already had an image in mind (of a blissfully ecstatic lady holding a narcissus flower) so I started by collecting images that resonated with the emotions and ideas in the title track.

I did a rough sketch:

I knew I wanted a larger than life flower and to exaggerate the neck to create more of a feeling of surrender, longing and devotion.

I added colour and the backlit haze of a warm summer night:

I kept going until the image got closer to how I wanted it to feel. I changed the angle of her right eye at this point.

This was the penultimate image. Just before moving into our house in Cornwall I decided I wanted to change her jawline. I was rushing and ended up giving her what looked like an impressive beard! Luckily I was able to return to the picture calmly and restore it.

I chose to paint the flower with oil colour rather than acrylic because it adds more depth and is less powdery. I’ve always thought there’s something special about oils. I’m pretty pleased with how the cover turned out.