Can’t tell A Book By Its Cover

One measure of an artist’s success, or at least the success of his art, is the quality of literature that accompanies it on the printed page. Over the years, a few of my drawings have been chosen by otherwise right-thinking publishers to decorate the fronts and occasionally the insides of some rather impressive volumes of text.

Mesopotamia

The floral Hummingbird was selected to grace the cover of Mesopotamia, a collection of poems by Canadian author Bruce Meyer that ‘celebrates the joy and pain of our ideas of paradise.’ Published last year by Your Scrivener Press, the book adds to the chorus of literary voices emerging from northern Ontario, and elevates this drawing to a higher artistic level.

Come Cook With Me

Dear friend and colleague Dr. Betty Ruth Speir is known all along the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay for her long and distinguished career as an Obstetrician and Gynecologist, for her poetry, and for her delight in hosting sumptuous intimate and gala gatherings in the highest Southern tradition.

Betty Ruth now shares samples of her home-cooked secrets in Come Cook With Me (Two Harbors Press, 2009), a witty compilation of delectable dishes sprinkled with a tasty helping of whimsical verse. She recently honored me by choosing my Caduceus drawing for the cover of her book, a clear indication that the contents will be good, and good for you.

Mental Mechanisms & The Great Brain Book

The Left & Right Brain drawings illustrate the cover of a scholarly tome by cognitive philosopher Dr. William Bechtel that goes way over (and through) my head. Mental Mechanisms, Philosophical Perspectives on Cognitive Neuroscience (Routledge, 2007) traces the history and development of ways scientists think about, well, how we think.

Both of the Brain pictures were also included in H. P. Newquist’s The Great Brain Book, An Inside Look At The Inside Of Your Head (Scholastic, 2004) – where they illustrated the chapter on “The Care and Feeding of Your Brain.”. Bon Apetit!