Imagine my elation when given a book jacket assignment for one of my favorite authors, working with my all-time favorite art director, the marvelous Carol Carson at Alfred A Knopf. The watery background was created from my own photos of the whirlpool water in the Niagara Gorge below the Falls, with that distinctive greenish tinge. I massaged the water with filters and layers and blending modes to render it more poetic and painterly. I’d originally created the watery background for use on a book jacket for Chip Kidd for a collection of poems, a sketch that died only to rise from the grave. Carol saw it in a cover meeting and contacted me, asking: “Save that water for me. I want to use it on a jacket for Jhumpa Lahiri’s next book.” Oh joy.
