One rhododendron bush in May 2020

One rhododendron bush in May 2020 (2020). Pen, gouache, and acrylic on handmade paper (milkweed paper covers and straps, harakeke pages). 10 leaves, unique, 5 x 4.75 x 0.5” closed. Cynthia Sears Collection.

This book cycles through days of looking at the same rhododendron bush in May during lockdown in Ohio, using papers that I had made on different occasions from botanical fibers. I made the covers from milkweed (Asclepias) harvested in Michigan (thanks to a 2019 visit to Pati Scobey’s Concord studio) and the pages from harakeke (Phormium tenax) in Australia (thanks to a 2018 visit to Barb Adams’ Melbourne studio). The binding, a backstitch structure made entirely from cut and folded paper, was invented by Elizabeth Steiner. I learned it from her book with Claire Van Vliet, Woven and Interlocking Book Structures (Janus Gefn Unlimited, 2002). Each pen and gouache drawing sits on an acrylic paint background, and this book is one of the few complete pieces that I managed to create during this scary solitary time.