Nozaki Island Book Cover Revealed!
Check out the cover of the Nozaki book plus behind the scenes photos from a painting adventure on a friend's Tokyo rooftop!
I finished the book and am so excited to share the cover with y’all! After hours of battling the, admittedly small, written portions of this book it is officially complete! I find creating spreads of photographs rather fun, while writing historical descriptions can be unexpectedly difficult. I’m pretty happy with the cover, what do y’all think?
This cover photograph was taken near sunrise after I had I walked up and down several mountain paths. Overall, Nozaki is quite a steep island and the deer can seemingly jump vertically and sideways at the same time! Finally, after the last hill, I could see the horizon line. It was an incredible scene, dancing trees, distant mountains, and grass stretching over craters and rocks. I think it works well for the cover, how about you?
I have, rather boldly, declared there will be paintings at my next show… in three weeks. I love a good deadline! There are many sketches and ideas in the works, but what I really needed was time to explore the options in front of me and get a feel for the paints. My friend offered up her incredible roof area for me to work in. I lugged my entire painting setup over and then spent 5 hours on the roof experimenting with oils, acrylics, paper, wood boards and even watercolors. I discovered many things, most of all that, though I have a pretty secure photographic voice and style developed over decades, my painting style is absolutely nebulous. So, I’m trying it all! The major constraint is that I’m keeping the images black and white to go with the photographs and create a cohesive gallery space experience when they are done.
I made a glorious mess and learned many things. Including that it is important to remember which medium you last used on which paintbrush and that I need more days like this to explore different compositions.
Got any favorites?
And just for fun, Japanese plum blossoms are starting to come out! Despite the fact that it sleeted this morning. Beautiful, aren’t they?
Until next time!
Zoe
P.S. The book will be available for sale online soon! I’ll keep you in the loop!
Looks great!!!