woolie t.

A couple months ago, I posted about a book cover by David Drummond. I promise not to continually link to his blog, but he just recently posted another that is emotionally powerful and remarkably simple.

This is one of those occasions where I’m glad I had the artist explain his/her work. The book itself, Good to a Fault, is about a lady who takes in three children while their mother fights cancer. Soon enough, though, the mother recovers both her health and her children. My synopsis might not be totally correct, but the gist of it is the loss of those kids from the adoptive woman’s household.

How would you convey, with a single image, that sense of emptiness felt when your home suddenly shifts from “full of life” to “just you”? What would remain of the kids once they and all of their belongings are gone? And beyond showing the past, there’s also the idea of a lost future. The one where the children don’t leave, but instead grow and learn and live in your house. How do you indicate what didn’t get to happen?

Like this:

David Drummond explains:

The idea for this cover came from a wall in our house where our kids marked their heights from an early age. I am sure the same wall can be found in any house with children. In the case of the wall markings on the cover there is only one or two entries, as it were, because the children were not there long enough.

I don’t think you have to be a parent for this to have an impact. Those few markings so low to the floor, and all that empty space reaching to the ceiling, is too powerful. I honestly don’t think I would have realized this had the explanation not been given, and I’m glad it was.