My page for the 30th Anniversary Book

Here's the story behind this design:

I wanted to do a painting of the night sky as it was over Crawley on the date that the first album was released (Three Imaginary Boys) on May 8th, 1979. This date is the one listed on the Cure's website as the release date for their album, so in essence it is the official "start" of the band, as the first album released from a major label. I was trying to come up with something that would represent The Cure in all of their incarnations, as there were so many people involved with the band over the years that contributed to their sound and success.

So I went back to the beginning, not just the beginning as the date but the beginning as in the geographic location. I imagined the Cure coming out of some pub or house in Crawley after the celebration of their first album release and looking up at the night sky, what would they have seen? Could they even have imagined at that moment in time what their future would hold, and that their career would span over three decades and take them all around the world, gathering millions of fans in the process? I wonder if they even had a glimpse of what was to come, all those years ago.

The subject of the painting also ties in with Robert's deep interest in astronomy and science, as well as my own interest in astronomy and in the implications of a specific time, date and location.

The first time I did this painting, it was just a depiction of the night sky over a much more generic looking rolling hills countryside. I decided it wasn't distinctive enough to be immediately recognizable, and so I went and did some research.

First I had to find a good photo of Crawley's High Street and a building that was recognizably from that street. Once I decided which building I wanted in the painting, (which turned out to be the Gainsborough House) I then had to figure out which direction you were looking at in the photo. Google Earth was a huge help in this process.

Finally, I had to see what constellations would have been showing if you stood in that location and looked up at the sky at that precise date and time. I chose 11 pm because it would have been reasonably dark at that time, being that the sunset would have been near 8 pm.

The border contains the names of the constellations (although Cameleopardalis is spelled wrong), and the moons along the sides show two phases of the moon, crescent and gibbous in both waxing and waning phases. The constellation lines and the stars on the border are both rendered in gold foil, everything else is either watercolor or ink. Very geeky, yes, but how could it be otherwise? :D

I started by measuring out and sketching in the main elements of the picture.





Then I painted the buildings and the main wash over the sky and started on the detail elements. Finally, I did the gold leafing on the constellations and the border stars. The painting was finished with a clear coat over the gold constellations and then placed in the book after a little while under some heavy books to flatten it out.