From Canvas to Book Cover
What began as a joyful oil painting — full of sunlit highlights, lilac shadows and thick impasto paint — has taken on a new life. My first cake painting now appears on the retail book cover of This Is Not About Us! by Allegra Goodman, just released by Penguin Random House.
Seeing my work printed, wrapped around a novel, and sitting in the world of books at Barnes and Nobel feels like an exhilarating crossover — where visual storytelling meets literary narrative. For an artist who paints desserts as memory, celebration, and metaphor, this feels like a sweet and meaningful milestone.
Here’s the full image.
Story about American Family Life
You can read more about the book in this New York Times review, which is actually a compendium of short stories having strong connections between them. I love the title of this article: Meet the Rubinsteins. They’re Messy, but They’re Mensches. The first short story centers on apple cake and the Bernstein family, so this painting choice is powerful.
And how exactly does the cake tie in? Penguin Random House says:
When their beloved sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into a decade of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives—divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications, bat mitzvahs and ballet recitals—their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible.
I am quoting the publisher since I haven’t read the book yet. However, it certainly sounds like an excellent selection to present at my book club! Maybe I’ll even invite Allegra Goodman as a guest speaker…
A Rocky Balboa Moment (with Two Books!)
And yes… I had my Rocky moment.
Finally, channeling Rocky on the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, I held two copies overhead in triumph. If you’re going to celebrate your first retail book cover, you might as well do it properly.
Hope you see the resemblance – in the spirit anyway!
There is something wonderfully dramatic about holding not one, but two books — proof that painting can leap mediums and still carry its color, energy, and story with it.
How did this come about?
By far, the most common question is, What did you do to get your painting on the cover?
Honestly, I didn’t reach out to anyone. Donna Cheng, the talented art director at The Dial Press (an imprint of Penguin Random House) who created the book cover, reached out to me and asked to do a mockup using my painting.
Now you’re asking: How did she find you, Beverly? Who did you know at the publisher?
The answer is: I wrote a blog about my cake paintings in 2020 with lots of SEO tags. That’s all. I believe Donna discovered me as a result of the tags attached to this cake blog written during the pandemic, entitled Virtual Studio Tour – with Cake!. This entry showed the evolution of my cake paintings over time using 3 paintings, beginning with the Bundt Cake.
Ah, the power of the Internet! Maybe I should take that Coursera 5-class certification on SEO search… What do you think?
Behind the Camera: Thank You, Aileen!
My friend, Aileen Riordan (and local real estate agent extraordinaire!), enthusiastically documented the moment. Every artist needs someone who says, “Yes, let’s do this,” and means it.
The laughter and the sheer improbability of it — that’s what these photographs hold for me. Not just a book cover. A shared milestone.
This IS About Us!
And while the title says This Is Not About Us…
For my fifteen seconds of fame, it absolutely was about us!
Finally, signing off with gratitude for the journey — and this unexpectedly pleasureful chapter! I’m still a bit amazed.
So exciting! Congratulations.
Thanks, Leslie.