My Black Sabbath album cover project.
I bought Black Sabbath's first album seconds after it hit the shelf in the record store
many years ago. Something about the cover art jumped out and grabbed my attention.
Turned out the music wasn't bad either, and definitely different than the hippie music I
was into at the time. I intend to have the image blown up as large as practical, build a
frame and hang it on the wall.
I started over with a Vertigo gatefold album cover. This is what I've ended up with...........
The picture above is the composite of all the individual scans (below). I'm still working on the trees
where the text was edited out. Being a perfectionist doesn't help much. I may never be satisfied with it.
The full size image is 24 by 12 inches, and I've found a source to have it blown up to 30 by 15 for much
cheaper than I thought.
where the text was edited out. Being a perfectionist doesn't help much. I may never be satisfied with it.
The full size image is 24 by 12 inches, and I've found a source to have it blown up to 30 by 15 for much
cheaper than I thought.
I found someone over in that part of England, on YouTube, and inquired about the mill in
Mapledurham. Now, Foxalito, is definitely something else. He said he likes to ride his bike
anyway, and only needs an excuse, but I don't know. This guy went on a very long bike ride,
because some crazy guy over 3000 miles away on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, was
babbling something about a building, on the cover of a 37 year old Black Sabbath album, and
maybe getting some video of it. It seems the mill is a tourist attraction, and was closed the day
he rode over there. He did get a quick shot of the building from the front gate. You can see the
mill, if you follow the link. Hit the 'pause' button at 0:46 to stop the video. He even put my online
name in the first few seconds of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUOZhLuGTwM
Mapledurham. Now, Foxalito, is definitely something else. He said he likes to ride his bike
anyway, and only needs an excuse, but I don't know. This guy went on a very long bike ride,
because some crazy guy over 3000 miles away on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, was
babbling something about a building, on the cover of a 37 year old Black Sabbath album, and
maybe getting some video of it. It seems the mill is a tourist attraction, and was closed the day
he rode over there. He did get a quick shot of the building from the front gate. You can see the
mill, if you follow the link. Hit the 'pause' button at 0:46 to stop the video. He even put my online
name in the first few seconds of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUOZhLuGTwM
The album cover artwork may be titled 'The Witch' or just referred to as 'the witch cover'. It's by
Marcus Keef, an artist/photographer that specialized in 'false color' photography and created the
artwork used on quite a few album covers for various bands in the 60's and 70's. I haven't been
able to find much information about him and only a few other samples of his work. The building
in the background is the oldest, and still operating, water-powered mill on the Thames River, and
is located in Mapledurham, England, about 4 miles (or was that km?) northwest of Reading. If
you use Google Earth, you can see the mill from the satellite imagery at: 51deg-29min-08.55sec
North and 1deg-29sec-14.53 West. The lady is unidentified, and apparently just happened to be
available to pose for the picture, and not anyone associated with the band. It also appears that
the band had no input to the choice of artwork for the cover. Personally, I think it was a good
choice, whoever made it.
Marcus Keef, an artist/photographer that specialized in 'false color' photography and created the
artwork used on quite a few album covers for various bands in the 60's and 70's. I haven't been
able to find much information about him and only a few other samples of his work. The building
in the background is the oldest, and still operating, water-powered mill on the Thames River, and
is located in Mapledurham, England, about 4 miles (or was that km?) northwest of Reading. If
you use Google Earth, you can see the mill from the satellite imagery at: 51deg-29min-08.55sec
North and 1deg-29sec-14.53 West. The lady is unidentified, and apparently just happened to be
available to pose for the picture, and not anyone associated with the band. It also appears that
the band had no input to the choice of artwork for the cover. Personally, I think it was a good
choice, whoever made it.
I still need to find a frame. This is what it looks like up on the wall. The maximum poster
size from this source is 20 by 30, but the final image, being a different size in proportion, is
limited to 15 by 30.
size from this source is 20 by 30, but the final image, being a different size in proportion, is
limited to 15 by 30.