Life on Hold receives seal of approval:

Life on Hold, a young adult novel, by Beverly Stowe McClure received Children's Literary Classics seal of approval. The cover was created by myself. How cool is that?

The next step for Beverly's book is the awards process. Hopefully, it will win a gold or silver award and be able to wear an award seal. We'll know later this year.

Life on Hold is the second CLC award winner from 4RV Publishing; Walking Through Walls by Karen Coiffi, also with a cover of my creation, was the first and received both the seal of approval and then the silver seal award.

Both books can be found on the 4RV Bookstore, as well as through other online book stores and brick and mortar stores. If interested, contact me privately. :D

Last post: "Analise ~ book cover throwback, sorta lol."

 

Until next time ...
Aidana WillowRaven
http://WillowRaven.weebly.com

Analise ~ book cover throwback, sorta lol

 

This scene was more of a challenge than one would first think, not because it was complex or involved difficult techniques, but because I had to match an older skill level of two previous works of mine in this series. That's harder than one might think ... lol. Do you think it matches a little?

~blurb~
Three years have passed since the fall of Gemini. All is quiet in the world of Malgar, until violently attacked the newly built village of Fortress is left devastated. One of Kainan's dragon riders, Morgana disappears, taken by the human-like, bat-winged creatures that had attacked the village.Just before he loses all contact with her, Morgana tells her dragon, Rohan, that it is the Sorceress, and daughter of the evil Gemini, Analise. Kainan and Arweyn must now defend their city, and keep her and her evil creatures from destroying it.

However, not everything goes to plan, and the King and Queen of Malgar are in for a shock when they discover where Analise has been hiding, and what or whom her secret weapon is.

Last post: "A Wandering Warrior ... When a book cover hits close to the heart."

Until next time ...
Aidana WillowRaven
http://WillowRaven.weebly.com 

A Wandering Warrior ... When a book cover hits close to the heart.

Of course, I have a special connection to every book cover I create. Even though I rarely get to read the text, I end up discovering the character and story through the creation of the art. Naturally, the cover art is more about the characters than me, but SOMETHING of the artist always creeps in. I'm told, more than I realize, myself ;P

With this particular cover, the connection is more than a glimpse into my personality, it's also a glimpse into my heritage. A segment of my family is Spanish Gypsy, having migrated to the States during WWII by becoming a soldier for the US, a time when the Gypsies were in danger of being obliterated by Hitler and his camps.

My grandfather didn't talk much about our clan (mainly found traveling in the region of Alcantara, Spain), feeling it safer to let gadjos forget all about his being a Gypsy, but I felt myself drawn to that side of my lineage, the older I got. By the time I went to college to be an artist, I was studying all I could about the traveling people and my lineage, and was soon found and adopted by a Scottish Gypsy Clan.

I am sure you all can now see why I was so excited about this book cover. I simply could not pass up the opportunity to create a cover including Gypsies ... well, at least a caravan in the distance ... lol.

You probably can't tell I spent hours brightly painting the vardos and did my best to represent the beautiful Gypsy Vanners, with their luxurious coats, glorious manes, muscled bodies, and extra full fetlocks (no, not the battle-wise creature you see in front ... lol), knowing the labor of love would not be very visable in the final piece.

A Wandering Warrior, by Harry E Gilleland, Jr. (courtesy of 4RV Publishing), will be available in just a few weeks, so be sure to keep in touch if you like historical fiction/action-adventure novels.

A Wandering Warrior, an historical fiction/action–adventure novel,  takes place in twelfth century England. Thomas Beaumont, a commoner, warrior and an itinerant soldier, loses his uncle in battle and his brother through the duplicity of another. He wanders over the country, using his skills to live and to search for the man who killed his brother.

His search brings him the love of a traveling young woman, but romance must wait for revenge.  The twists and turns of fate challenge the warrior in many ways, often creating doubt for success. The goals at the ends of his searches hold a reader’s interest.

I hope ya'll enjoy looking at this one as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Until next time ...
Aidana WillowRaven
http://WillowRaven.weebly.com