Spent yesterday frantically finalising the Jabberwocky art, which I wasn't completely happy with. I also started work on the final album art. How sad it is that music is download based - how I wish we could make some actual CD singles of Jabberwocky because the art looks, will look, so nice. The main reason is that people have stopped using ceedees, not that the technology is in any way poor. Artists have shifted to USB sticks, but there is no standard for art to go with these.
Anyway, here it is, the final cover:
The black diamond shape there is now a square, as this matches the shapes on the main album, and the fonts match too. At one point, the artist name was in the top right corner, also matching the album, but it seemed to cramp the space too much. At another point, the torn page was lower and at a more acute angle, but this seemed to stop the feeling on 'emergence' of the Jabberwock. Overall, the cover went though about 15 revisions.
I didn't sing at all, my throat felt tight and tense. I wondered if this was connected with the cold, the sensation was similar to flexing my cold and inflexible hands. It could be a reaction to the work of the past few days but it felt more like tension of some sort: tension, anxiety, stress; my enemies. Like Beethoven, I often play instruments best when angry or emotional, or sing when fighting like a tree in the storm - all bad from a technical point of view. For singing, restful liquidity is important. I am made of electric energy and tension - have I ever, in my life, relaxed? I pictured myself made of jellyfish, the air as water. Perhaps ideas like this will help. Images and the feelings of shapes are the key to learning anything. I expect that a lot of my vocal tension comes from practicing unconsciously when asleep or doing other things which I can feel happening. I learned to play at least 50% of my piano when not anywhere near the instrument, even in dreams.
I slept badly, filled with intense anxiety and panic. This is probably a reaction to my conscious monitoring of anxiety, and perhaps the unusual day of intense work and, later, a 90-minute fast walk in the cold air. My thoughts often turn to the platonic solids. I wondered if one can be made from 8 triangles, laid like two counter-rotated triangles like a Star of David. I wanted to visualise this.
A busy day today. First a trip to Macclesfield to drop off the latest Richard Dadd print, and the 'An Experience' painting, and to meet a lovely friend and the new buyer of the latest 'Tiger Moving Nowhere' print. The weather was a constant 4 degrees, wet and bitter, but suitably wintry. Deb and I stopped on the way back to buy a Christmas tree.
