2024 has been Full of Bookish Adventures

February was all about California. I started in Oakland at the Codex Book Fair. After that I went up to Petaluma, exploring Point Reyes and finding the grand Monterey Cypress trees. InCahoots Artist Residency was next on the calendar. Each of the artists had a press to use and a cottage to sleep in. We shared the cats, Macy Chadwick, and field trips to the beach. It was a time of experimenting and pausing. Long Beach and my son and his husband was the final destination for this trip. A fabulous end to three weeks. Incredible food every time we sat together at the table.

With time on Point Reyes (just west of Petaluma, CA) I fell in love with the giant gnarly trees. They are windswept against the rocky landscape of the coastline, nurtured by the morning fog. I drew one tree after another, taking photos for reference later. As the days pass and returning to the studio, these drawings became a book without text. The research on these trees began. The book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss are said to be inspired by the Monterey Cypress trees along the coastline of California as they became displaced by development. But so far that is their only well known depiction in popular culture. 

June will be a month of printing this book, CYPRESS 24. July It will bound with a drop-leaf binding much like my Sketching 21 book. This one would have a few added details, the inner blue indigo end sheets and a reinforced paper cover. Text? It is still undecided, unwritten.