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Flight from the Dark(From the book "Heroes & Villains
Vol 2")By : Deborah Susan Jones : Editor This painting was
initially created for Editions Gallimard in Paris for
their French language editions of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf
roleplay game series of books. There were four initial
books to have covers designed for them and the deadline
was unusually tight, with just 2-3 days available for
each and all four to arrive in the Paris studio by 5th
of January, inclusive of a photgraphic shoot to put the
images on 5x4 inch transparency. It was the only
Christmas that Peter worked and hard work it was too!The paintings were
duly completed, shot on tranparency and shipped.And then . . . . . . .
. .A few weeks later Peter had cause to call the
publisher and was greeted by a familiar sounding voice
on the other end of the phone."Hello. you don't sound French?!" "No, I'm English, but
I'm working in Gallimard's studio here in Paris. I
really like those pictures you've sent us.""Yes. They were tough, I only had a few days
on each, I usually take about tqo weeks on an cover but
they said they had to have it by the 5th.""Um, how should I put this? They've been
sitting on the end of the table here for the last two
weeks and nobody's looked at them yet.""Right, well, I shan't be working Christmas
again then, will I?!" The rest is history. Further books in the series were created
(though not to such tight deadlines!) and these were so
popular that Edizioni E Elle in Trieste, Italy, licensed
the work for the Italian language market and eventually
Red Fox in the UK also licensed the work for the
non-american English language market and of course many
otehr publishers around the globe also became licensees.The painting proved,
with the passage of time, to be one of the most iconic
of Peter's Lone Wolf book covers and it is one of his
own personal favourites and hangs in his studio in pride
of place, a reminder of "the Paris jobs" and perhaps as
a reminder not to work that hard ever again!The Paris visits were
quite an eye opener too for Peter, meeting French fans
at the Publisher and signing personal copies of books
and we spent some nice times in Paris including a very
enjoyable drinks evening on Gallimard's very own
floating barge on the Seine opposite Notre Dame.Needless to say, no visit by an artist to
Paris can pass without a visit to see La Gioconda or La
Joconde (also known as the Mona Lisa ) by Leonardo di
ser Piero da Vinci at the Musée du Louvre. I doesn't
matter how cliched such a visit might be you just have
to do it and when you do you know exactly why it has the
reputation it does. No painter can see this picture and
be less than totally impressed. Magnifico!Deborah Susan Jones
