New Murder Mystery Cover Sketches

Revised rough sketch as approved

I'm working on a new murder mystery book cover and thought I would give a sneak peek at the cover sketch process.

You may remember the cover art a year or so ago for "Murder on the Bucket List". This was the first book in what was hoped to be a series of mysteries involving a group of seasoned older ladies. Well, the book apparently did well enough to merit a sequel and so I get to do this cover as well.

Rough sketch options

This one called Murder Under the Covered Bridge. The opening scenes involve a period photo shoot and the protagonists discovering a body on the banks of a river spanned by a classic New England covered bridge. I came up with four possible solutions from which the client selected one. I did a revision of the idea to better accommodate the type treatment and it was approved. I'll be working up the final drawing and art next and will post the final art when it is finished up.

Haycropolis On Loan To Utah AG's Office

Greg Newbold and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes with "Haycroplolis"

I'm pleased to announce that my painting Haycropolis is on loan to the office of Utah State Attorney General Sean Reyes. The 36" x 60" painting  is on temporary loan  and will hang in their conference room until it finds a permanent home or I retrieve it for another show. I am honored to have my work hang at the Utah State Capitol and hope many people enjoy it during it's stay there. Sean is an old friend as well, so it's fun for him to have a piece of mine on the wall for a little while.

Haycropolis- 36" x 60" oil on canvas by Greg Newbold

Haycropolis is still for sale. Please contact me if you have interest in having it become a permanent fixture in your home or office.

See more about the creation of Haycropolis in a previous post here.

Hazy Grazing

Hazy Grazing- 9" x 12" Oil by Greg Newbold

Here's another small painting that I just delivered to David Ericson Fine Art. It will be on display along with a bunch of other great work by the gallery's artists for the upcoming Gallery Stroll on August 21st. This marks the first $100 dollar sale at Ericson and although this particular painting will not be included as a $100 option, there will be  Greg Newbold painting in that group. The hope is lure in some potential collectors that have not really considered original art as an option and get them excited about owning actual one of a kind art from talented and  accomplished  local and regional artists.

Some of you may recall the start of this painting from a previous post.

As I almost always do when taking a field study to finish in the studio. I fix things that weren't working and change things to suit the intent of the piece. Here I have adjust a lot of  the values to add drama, softened the sky and the mountain edges in the distance to give a hazier mood to the piece and added the cows which were just quick smudges at the study phase. I also exaggerated some of the color for contrast and visual appeal as well. There are always things I might do differently when I reach the final signature stage, but for the most part, I am satisfied with how it turned out. Each choice I make along the road of creation yields a certain result and collectively all my choices lead to the final product. I try not to second guess too much what might have been since I would have to make a different set of choices along the way to get a different outcome. That type of introspective thinking is better often better left for the next painting. Learn, evaluate and move on to the next one.

Mount Olympus - Fall

Mount Olympus-Fall 8" x 10" oil by Greg Newbold

Here's a little commissioned piece that I finished recently. This shot of Mount Olympus actually is the view out my front door and I have had many opportunities over the years to capture some pretty dramatic lighting. You may remember a previous epic painting of this view in winter that I did a couple of years back called Autumn Dusting. Since this is a small painting at just 8" x 10", I used it as an opportunity to make a study for a larger painting. Of course I don't always polish my studies as much as I did this one. I like the dramatic sweep of the clouds and the shadows they cast across the peak as well as the bit of dappled light that makes the foothills come alive. This one will be fun to paint at the 30" x 40" scale that I have chosen. I'll post the large version once it is finished.

Also if interest is the fact that I had to ship this one to the recipient collector in Norway, so this is officially my first painting residing in an international collection. Fun stuff!