Rebecca Parks "Secret Stage" album cover

     After over a decade of releasing no recordings, Rebecca and I reappeared in 2025 with not one album, but three.  In fairness, I am not on one of them at all as a recording artist, but I had great fun designing cover art for this musical triptych.  You may notice traces of 1960s rock poster art in the lettering of Rebecca's name.  The letters of the album title are the same Art Nouveau font used on Rebecca's previous album of over a decade prior, for a little visual continuity.  The portrait is idealized, capturing a late 19th-early 20th Century feel, and the ornamental border is inspired by a painted roundel in the auditorium of the Castro Theatre, San Francisco.  After Covid, the first special exhibition to be mounted at San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor celebrated the art of hearth, kitchen, home, and table in Pompeii.  I noticed frescoes that depicted masks, suspended by ornamental chains fastened to the roof beams of courtyards.  I've always been fascinated by masks, in architectural decoration, and other places.  They can be comedic.  They can be tragic,  They can be erotic.  And I am especially attracted to the ones that are spooky--in temples, palaces, theatres, churches--anywhere.  In many cases, even when they make one feel uneasy, they are meant to repel evil.  Those on the album cover are of this latter type.  The figure on the inside cover of the album carries this theme further.