Friday, March 29, 2024
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Featured Artwork: “The Corral Cat Caper” Book Cover

"The Corral Cat Caper" book cover
“The Corral Cat Caper” book cover

Patricia and Rags are at it again, this time with another species! Author Patricia Fry has published her seventh novel in the mystery series “Klepto Cats”, this one titled The Corral Cat Caper, and it does indeed include a horse.

In this story, Rags’ best horse friend, Peaches, disappears, and Rags corrals a few things in his search for Peaches. Nearly all the regular characters appear as the search goes on. Where could a horse be hidden?

Unlike most other covers, this one had no preliminary sketches or other ideas. Patricia described to me pretty much what she had in mind, Peaches as a bay horse, Rags up on a rail or something so he was at the level of Peaches’ face, and preferrably outdoors. I remembered all the books about horses I’d read in grade school, My Friend Flicka, Misty of Chincoteague, The Black Stallion and such like, and the covers I’d studied, fascinated by the illustrator’s style.

Patricia’s stories take place roughly where Patricia lives in southern California so I took the time to visualize that and look through some photos I had from visiting a childhood friend who’d moved to the area. I’ve been taking photos of horses for a while intending to someday paint them, so I matched up one of my photos with the type of horse Patricia described and added the rail fence for Rags to sit on. After changing the background image a few times—a little more green so the horse and fence showed up a little better—I sent the composite image to Patricia, and she liked it. Off I went, and before I knew it the cover was done.

For this sketch I used my multi-media art paper and pastels, finishing with just a touch of pastel pencils for the details of the faces. I just wish I’d made it a little bit larger so I could have tightened up the details a bit but I also like it as loose as it is. I painted this cover last October-November when autumn and holiday events were picking up the pace so I didn’t have the chance to post before now—and there is even another book cover since this one, and I’m working on one right now. Whew! That woman can write!

I’ve illustrated six other covers for Patricia: Catnapped , Cat-Eye Witness, Sleight of Paw, Undercover Cat, The Colony Cat Caper and Celebrity Cat Caper. All books are available in electronic format and most for print on Amazon.com.

About the illustration materials

bookmarks
A two-sided bookmark for the four books in the series so far.

I don’t use paper for most of these illustrations but chose Ampersand brand Pastelbord, which is a piece of Masonite with a very fine clay and marble-dust coating that has very little texture but holds layers of pastel so I can both do my finger-painting thing with blending softer pastels and sketch with harder pastels and pastel pencils, and it stand up well to multiple changes.

The original illustration is actually 8″ x 10″ so it fits in my scanner. I began the painting with soft pastels to cover the major areas with layers of color. I finished up the details and edges with pastel pencils.

You can find these books and more by Patricia Fry on Amazon.com. Reviews have been good, and a few reviewers have even mentioned the covers! I hope you enjoy these books, and Patricia and I are already beginning the cover for the fifth book in this series. That woman can write!

We also designed a two-sided bookmark that includes all four books so far which Patricia can hand out at book signings and book shows.

. . . . . . .

Read more about book covers I’ve designed. Also, click here to read more about the Purrs of Wisdom cover and bookmarks, and also about books I’ve designed on my blog, What’s New?

Are you interested in illustrations or a book cover, or book design? Please contact me, I’ll be happy to discuss your project.


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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


© 2015 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
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Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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