Today was almost cold when we woke up. Stewart will say that it was cool I am sure. The temperature drop was radical and made it more comfortable to get more things done for our upcoming exhibition.

I was delighted to wake up with 3 sales in my etsy shop of my new limited edition prints. I sold two prints to Scotland and one to England and later in the day I even sold one to the Netherlands! I am grateful, because of this I was finally able to pay off my camera and avoid interest charges. I hope more people snap up my prints, I am so pleased with the quality of the reproduction.

The house is really coming together and it is amazing seeing the work of so many artists transform the space. I hope east prospect is a smashing success for all artists involved.

I was also thrilled to discover a recent review of my cover art for the book Eromenos. Many of you helped me decide which image should be the cover- so thanks again!For those interested in reading the review:

Cover Story - EROMENOS: a novel of Antinous and Hadrian

EROMENOS: a novel of Antinous and Hadrian by Melanie McDonald

The book is set in the 2nd Century and to me the image and font used immediately suggest the time of the Roman and Greek empires. I won't give away the relevance of the hands for fear of spoiling the ending for those who don't know the story of Antonius and Hadrian (confession here - I didn't until I started to look at this book and its cover)

I'll start by getting Melanie to describe how the image came about.

"One especially nice thing about being published by a new indie historical fiction publisher, Seriously Good Books, was that I got to have some say in how the cover of my debut novel, Eromenos, looked. When the publisher and I were discussing cover art, I suggested the artist Megan Chapman, whose work I have long admired. I first met Megan when I was an MFA student at the University of Arkansas with her brother, poet Sean Chapman, and have seen several of her shows."

I then asked about the brief that was given to Megan to produce the image.

"When the publisher and I spoke to Megan about doing the cover art, she read the ending of the manuscript and knew what happened to Antinous; otherwise, we gave her free rein to invent an image that would be evocative of the story. Ms. Chapman also liked the ending of Eromenos, and she came up with a gorgeous image that captured the novel's mood and atmosphere. She was the one who chose to go with a photograph rather than a painting; I still don't know her secret for making that photo look as ancient and weathered as it does (a happy mystery).We are happy to report that many reviewers and readers have commented on how beautiful they found the cover art as well."

I agree that the cover is very striking and very evocative - particularly if you know the ending to the story.

You can find the book (and see the cover) at www.amazon.com/dp/B0058W5I20 (UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0058W5I20)

You can visit the book's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eromenos-by-Melanie-McDonald-a-novel-about-Antinous-and-Hadrian/177668218934051?ref=ts

Or visit Melanie's website: www.melaniejmcdonald.com

To see more of Megan Chapman's art, please visit her website: www.meganchapman.com - It's definitely worth a visit