I was so pleased to get a call from Saylor Smith who was about to go to press with his 3rd book and asked me to do a painting for the cover. He had taken a photograph to be used as a guide for the painting, but wanted the subject in an 80's Angel uniform, a bat on his shoulder, a catchers mitt in her hand, and add an interesting but muted background. So sketches were started near the end of November and emailed back and forth until we got a suitable composition. There were a few things I needed to change from the original photo, I wanted the vantage point to be a bit lower and needed more info in the shadows so I got a friend to pose with his daughter and re-shot the scene. I was able to use some of this new info in the painting, but the more I worked with Saylor's original, the more I was able to see in it. I wanted the grandstands as a background right away and found some suitable images, some from the painting "The Hub" made last year. So here it is, I left room at the top and bottom for title and author info, and then worked with Saylor to come up with a layout that he liked, playing the part of a graphic artist, then the publishers went to work polishing it up and making a great presentation.
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