I've been working a book of my paintings with my publisher, Cool Titles. We are shooting for a release date in June. The book will be offered for sale by itself and also a Collector's Edition that will include a custom slipcase and an exclusive limited edition giclee. I've designed the limited edition giclee around the book and its cover. I fashioned a scale model of the book above, leaned it against the wall and applied some dramatic lighting.

With the addition of a paint tube or...

...two or three, I've come up with the idea of...

...myself, standing on my paint tubes and painting the lettering on the book cover. Introducing, "The Letterman"

In order to get some idea of how the shadows would look, I built a 'wall' in my driveway by tying a rope to my rain gutter and then to a pole that I clamped to a ladder. I then clothespinned a bed sheet to the rope, held the bottom of the sheet down with a couple of 2x4's, set down a piece of plywood for me to stand on, and then headed down to my studio to begin the painting.

Beginning with the book color of green, I've applied the light struck area first to help me determine the other colors that will compliment it.

Staying with the book, I've painted the green areas that are cast in shadow.

In order to determine how dark to make some of the areas of the book and the paint tubes, I will block in the darkest areas of the painting...The back wall and the cast shadows.

By mixing burnt umber, cadmium yellow and white, I sketched in the small triangular area of the wall that is struck by the sunlight. I also added in the shadows that are cast by the book and the paint tubes.

The floor color is a mixture of burnt sienna, cadmium yellow and a little cadmium red.

The last area of the surrounding space is the floor color, mixed with burnt sienna, cadmium yellow and white. Notice that I've painted the edges of the pages in the book, keeping them on the warm side to show the reflective light that is bouncing up on to their surfaces.

The book will have a slice of "Man on a Hot Tin Can" on the cover, giving the viewer a preview of what is inside the book. I've roughed in that image.

OK. We've all seen this ol' guy before. Here he is working on his book. Everything is a little simplified and rough at this point. The details will come later with the final application of oil paint.

I'm all roughed in. Jeans are a mix of French ultramarine blue, thalo blue, burnt sienna and white.

The paint tubes are last and next. I've started on the red pigment tube first as I will determine exactly what color the foreground tube will be based on the overall balance of color in the painting.

All the paint tubes are rendered with their first layer of thinned out oil.

The half way point in this painting has been reached. All areas of the canvas have one coat of pigment, attempting to paint the correct hue and value. The final coat and the correct hues and values will come next.

The first area to get the final rendering of 'out of the tube' thick pigment is the slice of the painting at the top of the book. Also, if you look closely, you can see that I've added an outline of the bottom of the 'S' that I am filling in with the off white paint. The letters on the front of the book are embossed into the linen wrapped hard cover, creating a small shadow and highlight in each of the embossed letters.

The back wall and the dark green shadow on the book is painted.

The flat green color of the light struck area of the book is painted.

The thin edges of the book have been addressed, darkening them and softening the edge as it turns into the shadows.

I've indicated the pages on the edges of the book and also painted all the white lettering on the face of the book.

I've been hard at work, rendering myself, painting my book. Seems very strange, at least in theory? Anyway, I've added some lush chunks of oil on all parts of my clothing, head, arm and hands. I'll move on to the paint tubes next.

The paint tubes took a great deal of inspection of the photograph I took and attention to all the detail.

With the paint tubes done, I painted the cast shadows and the warm light struck ground area. "The Letterman" is done!