It’s tulip time again, and this month I wanted to design some book covers based on the 1637 tulip craze in Holland that resulted in the collapse of the world’s first financial bubble.
The original is a ‘Black Parrot’ tulip out in my garden, actually more of a deep purple with black edges.
Here I have transformed it into a cover for ‘The Black Tulip‘ by Alexandre Dumas in the photo app Stackables using a slightly brightened up version of its ‘Asylum’ formula. This book was about the search for the almost mythical black tulip back in the 1600s and I wanted to try and capture that time period.
Dumas wasn’t too up on his horticulture making several critical mistakes involving the creation of a black tulip, most notably when he described the colour as a ‘dark nut-brown’. He also mixed up the planting times. However, I guess there wasn’t any Google to research your book back in the 1850s so I forgive him.
This original photo of the ‘Lavender Ruffle’ tulip at La Conner’s Tulip Town is slightly out of focus.
Here I have transformed it into a cover for ‘Tulip Fever’ in the photo app Stackables using a brighter version of its ‘Misty’ formula, which increased the out-of-focusness to the point that it didn’t matter. Another book set in the mid 1600s, Deborah Moggach’s story is of an artist who gambles on the crazed tulip market. I wanted the image to look as if it was of a painting of that time period.
The third tulip is a flame tulip, which resembles the Semper Augustus, a streaky red and white tulip that became the most extravagant tulip of this time, especially as the virus that caused the streaks made the bulb unstable.
Here I made up my own formula in Stackables, adding lots of thick brushy paint stroke layers along with a handwriting overlay to make it look as if it was part of a tulip grower’s notes on how to produce the perfect tulip.
I’ve seen the black tulip here at Tesselaars Tulip Farm in the Dandenong Ranges. It is beautiful and so surprising. But, then, tulips are my all-time faves.
I like what you’ve done with the covers. If I saw these in a bookstore, I’d definitely be enticed to pick them up! Very nice work. 💖
I haven’t actually seen a black tulip – lucky you!