The Circus And The Nightwhale cover picture - December 2023

I'm thrilled with the cover picture for my new album and equally pleased to hear all the positive responses from people who have seen it.

This beautiful and striking picture is a painting in acrylic ink and pencil by Denise Marsh, a close friend of both Jo and myself who Jo originally met at art college in 1979. Denise has done many fabulous paintings over the years, including a special mural for the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton depicting every character from CS Lewis' Narnia stories. She has a wonderful sense of colour, perspective and atmosphere.

I discussed ideas for the album cover at length with Denise, as I wanted to include both the circus and the whale, both pivotal themes of the album's storyline. The circus in the whale's mouth looks as if it's in a hurricane because the whale threatens the controlling power of the circus. The whale is both death and rebirth...

Denise's bold use of colour and imagery gives a powerful sense of the whale's monstrousness and the fear that it could swallow you whole. Yet, the glowing moon as an image linked to one of the love themes gives a sense of hope, as the protagonist of the story finds the light through facing the terror of the darkness inside the whale.

My thanks to Denise for conveying such an extraordinarily powerful image which I'm proud to have as my latest album cover.