Cover Paintings

The Very Short Introductions, or VSI's as they are commonly known, is a long running and extensive series published by Oxford University Press (OUP).

The series was started in 1995 and the 650+ titles have been published in over 25 languages. They offer concise introductions to subjects as diverse as ‘Comedy’, ‘Teeth’, ‘Nutrition’ and ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’ . . . and my favourite ‘Typography’ by Paul Luna.

The beautiful cover designs were a concept thought up and painted by my dear friend and colleague, Philip Atkins. He nurtured the VSI series for over ten years, making over 300 original paintings. Philip sadly passed away in 2008. In 2011 OUP asked me to do some trial paintings for this series. I enjoyed painting them partly because I know that Philip wanted me to continue them and also because were are such a dream job for someone who loves colour and texture. I am pleased that I continued in his conceptual footsteps.

OUP asked that my paintings remained true to the VSI brand but also found a way to introduce greater variety so that the series could continue the same incredibly successful style. I achieved this by making my painting a bit more textured and also introducing a subtle 4th colour. I added over 200 new paintings to the series collection.

See the whole series here: http://bit.ly/2qn5LfF