illustration published as wrap-around book-cover by Samuel Weiser, Inc. 1978 • original artwork, provenance unknown
1978. I’d been living in New York for a decade, making my living as a free lance illustrator… again. This time however I was creating illustrations for book covers, rather than fashion illustrations for trade magazines. The publisher I worked for, Samuel Weiser Inc., specialized in books on Occult spirituality and Eastern philosophy. Dion Fortune, an early 20th century mystic and writer, penned a number of New Age romances about reincarnation and finding your soul mate, which Weiser published in the late-70s. By the time I did this particular cover, I had been painting with an airbrush to create cover artwork for a couple years. Moon Magic was one of the most ambitious and satisfying of the many full color covers I created for Weiser during the 12-year period I worked with Don & Betty Weiser – 6 in New York, 6 in Cape Neddick, Maine. What interests me in looking at this illustration which I created over thirty-five years ago, is noting how much it owes to the career I thought I had left behind, five years before: fashion illustration. Here’s what the complete artwork looked like without type:
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It’s beautiful without the type Alden! Thank you so much for these daily postings, which give us a glimpse of the breadth of your career over the years.