Bridget writes:

Art Background

I've been doing Art of one kind or another since I was a child. I did Art at A level then did a foundation course at Corsham Art College, a Bachelor of Arts first class hons degree at Newport in Gwent, a Masters Degree in Fine Art at Reading University and was a Sculpture Fellow of Gloucester College of Arts and Technology. I then taught Ceramic Sculpture up to G.C.S.E. Level before leaving to become a self employed Singer/Songwriter/Artist/Performer.

Artwork for Earth Born

I had sent Don some Artwork for my song Salome and an idea I had for the cover of Alien Injection, which was at that time titled 'Raise All Attachments', neither had got used but he'd liked the ideas and knew I was quite keen to do the cover for Earth Born.

The idea began with a black and white photo I had taken of Druids performing their summer solstice ceremony at the Stonehenge Festival in 1982/3. I affected it on the computer using Paint Shop Pro 7. This gave the figures both colour and anonymity. I created an Outer Space background from an abstract design I had made on the computer added lettering and sent the idea to Don for some feedback. This image can be seen on the disk. It was felt that there weren't enough figures in the image. (Spirits Burning has had over 100 musicians involved in its history, with Earth Born utilising 28). I cloned the figures re affected them and continued work on the 'Earth Born' lettering.

I used the font 'Time' (used for the numbers in digital clocks), which seemed appropriate and filled it with a pattern called Summer Field. I then fitted the lettering into a circle and gave it a reflection/shadow that fell below the figures and their 'piece of planet' with the effect of enclosing them in a shape reminiscent of a space ship. It took many attempts before the lettering fitted correctly with the figures. I had to curve the figures in order to make them fit into the space created by the letters. I added a rising star. Which to my mind gives a feeling of hope, though sometimes when I look at it I think it could be Earth, the planet or our sun that they've left behind, but most often I see it as the light of a new sun shining brightly on our intrepid space travellers!

Lastly I added faded and enlarged copies of the 'Earth Born' lettering into the background in order to bring all the separate pieces together. It also gives the added effect of movement and passing of time. During this time I was in email contact with Karen Anderson, graphic designer and musician with Spirits Burning when I encountered a problem. My original background wasn't created at 300dpi. Fortunately I had created a large file size so we were able to maintain print quality.