The cover of Beautiful Was The Time has been receiving deserved attention, which I must deflect. The piece is a unique ink drawing, done specially for the album by illustrator Cara Bell Jones. I completely love it.

The sentiment behind it is open to interpretation, but I think there's an element of false archaism there that mirrors the content and process contained within the music. Cara and I discussed the artwork a lot in general terms before she went away to draw it, but I never saw sketches or preliminary drawings. She simply presented me with the image here having, without realising it, conjured up the exact picture that was in my mind. It's perfect.

The skull was digitally converted into ASCII art, before Cara painstakingly hand-drew each character. The CD version of the album contains a print on heavyweight recycled paper as well as a full printed CD with detail of the picture on it.

Limited edition silk-screen prints of the original artwork are in the pipeline...

Cara should be contacted for commissions, inquiries, praise etc. via email.