When I did my screen print of Miss Flite, it was never my intended end goal. It was an intermediary step to what I wanted to do, which was a book cover for Charles Dickens' 'Bleak House.' Dickens always had a cause in his books. In ‘Bleak House’ the cause was to show the horrid absurdity of the courts of chancery in England by following the case of Jarndyce verses Jarndyce over several decades, and all those tied up in the case. One of the many people connected to the case is Miss Flite. She has developed a habit of collecting birds and giving them weird names, Spinach anyone? Her plan is to release them all when the verdict on the case is pronounced, which she refers to as the 'day of judgment.' As last year was the bicentennial of Dickens' birth I decided that the time for action was now, it was my 'day of judgment.' I would finish what I had started with all the little birds I had drawn a few years back.

I had some more hand lettering to do, with the addition of 'Bleak House' and 'Charles Dickens' as birds as well as the spine. But it was quite fun playing with the birds as jigsaw pieces to see who would go where. Also, being someone who has to see everything through to the end, I envisioned the book jacket itself printed so that it had the soft varnish coat that books sport now that are the worst enemy of price stickers. Sadly this is very expensive to produce, but I was able to get a similar feel by using the Neenah Starwhite paper. And once again I was lucky enough to have Corey Radlund photograph my book. And if you're wondering, yes, I actually have the book cover on copies of 'Bleak House,' I couldn't do it any other way.