Lino-cut Art

I commissioned my dear artist friend Rose Easterbrook to design a Lino-cut art print for me. The gorgeous image that she designed helps give a sneak peak into my upcoming novel trilogy series. The books all take place on or near the ocean, and the feeling that I wanted to evoke was the excitement of adventure.

Rose created this lino-cut and taught me how to do some basic print-making to help me accomplish my goal. I wanted to announce my next books to my creative friends with a snail mail campaign. With Rose’s help, I learned how to create lino-cut prints. I hand printed 70 copies of this image and enclosed a typed message off to 70 folks in the mail, along with a personal poetic message, handwritten, to each person. I sent them all off this week!

The typed message was an invitation to share about what Utopia means to my friends. I’ve spent the last five years brainstorming, outlining, and preparing to create this book series. But, I’m very interested in what the concept of “Utopia” means to my friends. I’m looking to explore how humans can thrive in the books. And while I spend a great deal of my time focused on this enterprise, I would love to have more perspectives brought into the light in my writing.

Also, I’m relatively new at writing novels. I feel a desire for more novels in my bones. But, I’ve been writing letters avidly since I was a little girl. I remember when my mother told me that if I wanted to receive mail, I had to send mail. I took that to heart. And, I have been actively sending mail out ever since. For years I designed my own one-of-a-kind art cards, and I wrote journal entries of my life to some of my closest friends. Finally, as a full grown adult, I have a ring of pen pals who write me back!

There’s something delightful and magical about getting something in the mail. In a world with some much technology, old school postal service snail mail feels like a revolution. I love thinking about just the right words for a particular person. I love the whole ritual of bringing to mind a dear friend and sending some love their way. I love making cards, sealing envelopes, and picking the coolest stamps out. This adventure into lino-cut art was really satisfying as a new flavor on an old favorite!

I’m excited to receive back some responses about what other people find to be simply sublime in their lives. And, my intention is to integrate as many replies as possible into my book series. I’ve written the first draft of the first book, and now I’m about to start working on book two. I’m in! I’m excited! I’m looking forward to what people share with me. And, I can hardly wait to then share my trilogy with all of you!!!