Featured Artwork: Klepto Cat Book Cover No. 27, “Secrets, Trickery and Meows”

March 22, 2018April 3, 2018 Bernadette

I love these Victorian interiors. They go so well with cats, especially cats with imperious expressions wearing jewelry.

Book 27, Secrets, Trickery and Meows, came around last December and early January. Patricia described it to me so I could get a start with visualizing, that she’d like a closeup with Rags, Buffy the Himalayan we’ve seen on a few other covers, and a new kitty for covers, Lucy, a long-haired gray and white cat. There would be fine jewelry, and maybe one of the cats would be wearing a necklace. Maybe one of them would be sitting on a red cushion with yellow tassels, maybe Rags would be wearing a scarf, lots of color to offset the gray and white cats.

Patricia also sent me two photos of the model kitty for Lucy. I used both to make up Lucy for this illustration, the body from one and then the face from the other.

As soon as she said red and yellow, and jewelry, and hinted at the Victorian interior, I knew exactly the photo I’d use. Here is the Himalayan kitty reference image and the reference for their setting.

I didn’t have a reference photo for Lucy’s necklace, I just made one up in a Victorian style that would have the right colors and details that would work at this size. I also decided to eliminate all the items and art above the cats so the title would be more clear. This cover was done pretty quickly once I got past Christmas work, and then pretty soon after Patricia had yet another cover!

You can find Secrets, Trickery and Meows on Amazon.com.

And another award!

My series of covers for Patricia’s books in 2017 earned yet another Certificate of Excellence for my cover illustrations for the Klepto Cat Mystery series! Scroll down to read more.

About the illustration materials

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. 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.

But once I began working out the covers with all this Victorian detail like PAWSitively Sinister, I needed a little assistance in keeping the details in order so it didn’t take me until next year to do the painting. I used a self-prepared paper with a very fine surface texture and not entirely opaque so I could put it on my light table and trace the details in place and even draw on the light table with pastel pencils. These illustrations are 8″ x 10″ and the books are 5″ x 8″. Because the illustration is reduced in size it’s easy to lose details so I can’t go too big, and especially when working with patterns it’s important nothing is out of place or it’s immediately noticeable. Getting all the details just right on an illustration like this interior with cats can be tricky when it’s this small. The risk with this paper is that the surface is delicate and actually drawing too hard will remove the roughened texture and I’ll have a hole in my drawing! But it’s great fun to take my Photoshop composite and turn it into a painting.

About these book covers

I’ve illustrated a total of 19 covers for Patricia. You can see them below, but unfortunately you can’t click on the images to go to the article and read more about them. Use these links instead: Catnapped, Cat-Eye Witness, Sleight of Paw, Undercover Cat, The Colony Cat Caper, The Corral Cat Caper, Gallery Cat Caper, Mansion of Meows, Celebrity Cat Caper, Pawtners in Crime, Pawsitively Sinister, The Purrfect Lie, A Picture Purrfect Christmas, Meow for the Money, Claws for a Cause, Cabin FURvor, A MEOWvelous Witness, Cats in Cahoots, The Amazing CATventure, By Crook or By Cat, Merriment, Mayhem and Meows, A Christmas to Purr About, Cattywampus Travels, Cats in the Belfry, CATalyst for Clues., The Perilous PURRsuit, and Secrets, Trickery and Meows.

book cover design with cats and quilt undercover cat patricia fry

The final cover for "PAWtners in Crime" by Patricia Fry.

The final cover for "The Purrfect Lie" by Patricia Fry.

"A Picture Purrfect Christmas" klepto cat mystery by patricia fry

The finished cover for "Meow for the Money".

"Claws for a Cause" by Patricia Fry, cover illustration and design.

Cover illustration and design for "Cabin FURvor"

"The Amazing CATventure" cover, finished.

The finished cover for "Merriment, Mayhem and Meows".

"A Christmas to Purr About" Klepto Cat Mysteries No. 22"A Christmas to Purr About" Klepto Cat Mysteries No. 22

Klepto Cat Book Covers

CWA Certificate of Excellence for “Illustration: Series”

2015, 2016 & 2017

For three years in a row my illustrations for the Klepto Cat Mysteries have won Certificates of Excellence in the Cat Writers’ Association’s annual communications contest. The covers included in these awards include covers 9 through 20, or Mansion of Meows through By Cat or By Crook.

Bookmarks for Patricia L. Fry's books. — Bookmarks for Patricia L. Fry’s books.

All books are available in electronic format and most for print on Amazon.com as well as find the print versions on Patricia’s website. Reviews have been good, and a few reviewers have even mentioned the covers! I hope you enjoy these books, and Patricia and I are currently working on the next cover. That woman can write!

When we finished book 12 we also updated the two-sided bookmark that includes all twelve books so far which Patricia can hand out at book signings and book shows.

We’ve also printed two runs of note cards from three of the covers.

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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.

Featured Artwork

Each week on Wednesday I feature a piece of artwork, sometimes a current or historic portrait, sometimes an illustration or an art project from years ago, usually cat-themed, but sometimes wildlife or even non-animal subjects, and even projects from my commercial art life. Read other Featured Artwork posts.

Custom Commissioned Artwork and Illustrations from Portraits of Animals

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From Animal Portraits to Book Covers to Advertisements

In addition to creating commissioned portraits beloved animal companions for the past 25 years I’ve also been a commercial artist since the 1980s both full-time and freelance and created many illustrations, book covers, advertisements, display signs and more. Visit my Commissioned Artwork pages to read more. They are not quite complete at the moment but there is still quite a bit to look at.

Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals 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.