The Nautilus and the Ammonite is now for sale!

Announcing the release of The Nautilus and the Ammonite! 

The Nautilus and the Ammonite is my latest book project. It features an anonymous poem that I simply fell in love with. The poem dates back to the 1800’s, an era when the science of paleontology was still taking its first steps. Its narrative follows two ancient mollusks, friends who together witness the last days of the Cretaceous, and one - the Ammonite - who is lost in the same event that took the dinosaurs.

This book is unique in that it juxtaposes old fashioned poetic language with contemporary visual art. The result is a volume that explores scientific questions about our world while contemplating philosophical implications in a way that is as emotionally responsive as it is brainy. 

You can view all the artwork and hear the poem in a Read Aloud version of the book on YouTube found here. 

The book is 9" x 12" Smythe sewn case bind (hardcover,) color offset printing, 32 pages plus printed end sheets. First edition of 300. Retail price of $20.00. 
Get a signed copy (FREE SHIPPING for US customers) by contacting me directly at marfknox (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line "Nautilus and Ammonite". 

Photos from "Imaginarium" Reception at CAC

Just got back from the opening for the show in Wallingford, featuring all of the artwork from The Nautilus and the Ammonite. Here are some photos. If you want to see the show in person, it's up through July 20. Duke Gallery at the Community Arts Center, 414 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, PA 19086.

"Peace Puzzle Woodcut" more info click here

The Nautilus and the Ammonite Pre-Sale Campaign is Launched!

Almost three years in the making and now The Nautilus and the Ammonite Pres-sale Campaign is LIVE! For those who don't know about it, check out the video above. I have 6 weeks to raise funds needed to print a first edition of 500. Check it out and please share with any potentially interested friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, word of mouth, etc. - it all helps. Thanks so much! 

"KT Event: The Asteroid Hits"

This is a second mixed media (woodcut with watercolor painting and charcoal drawing) that I made for a pitch video coming up. The first was posted Wednesday.

"KT Event: The Asteroid in Space"

I'm slowly gearing up to publish my next commercial trade picture book The Nautilus and the Ammonite. I made this watercolor and woodcut collage of the asteroid from the KT Event heading toward earth. It will likely be used as part of a pitch video for the fundraising portion of this project. But honestly, I've been wanting to use that little woodcut of the asteroid in another work since I originally carved it for this double page spread of the book.

Nautilus and Ammonite: What Remains

This is the artwork for the final double-page spread for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. It is paired with the final two lines of the poem:

Where heart meets heart, and no more they part
Who meet in that other land. 

The original poem uses the phrase "better land" but as a secular humanist, I simply cannot use a word so biased against this life here on earth. I opted for something more neutral, leaving readers to their own interpretations. To me, the other land is simply that of posterity, thus the word "Remember". 

Wow - after over two years this book project finally complete. As with any project that reaches an end, my feelings are a mix of joy and sadness, pride and disappointment. And then there is the shifting in mindset from creation to how to publish and get it out to an audience. For the moment, I'm just going to take some time to feel my heart swell with emotion. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: Distant Strands

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. In this image the Nautilus has aged and still holds on to hope of somehow being reunited with her friend. The faded memory of the ammonite melts into dotted strands of DNA. It is a reference to the humanistic notion that scientific study will uncover significant aspects of past narratives, and somehow complete a yearning for that which seems missing from the story of life on earth. It is unclear whether this is merely a hopeful mirage or the eve of a genuine reunion of sorts.

It is meant to be paired with this partial stanza:

Yet the hope, how sweet, again to meet,
As we look to a distant strand,

Nautilus and Ammonite: Ghosts

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. Here the Nautilus has given up her search and is haunted by ghosts of other, more recently extinct species. They are all species that went extinct during the age of humans and due at least partially  to human activity. This image is meant to be paired with this stanza that compares the Nautilus's loss and grief to our own:

And alike do we, on life's stormy sea,
As we roam from shore to shore,
Thus tempest-tossed, seek the loved, the lost,
And find them on earth no more. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: Passage of Time

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. This is the first image after the Nautilus has lost her dearest friend in the KT Event. It is meant to be paired with this stanza:

So the nautilus now in its shelly prow,
As over the deep it strays,
Still seems to seek, in bay and creek,
Its companion of other days. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: Fellow Travelers

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. Although if you have been following my progress on this blog, you know this is going backwards a bit before the KT Event takes out the ammonite. At this point in the book the two characters are still alive and on their adventures together. 

On this double page spread will read the stanza: 

And hand in hand, from strand to strand,
They sailed in mirth and glee;
These fairy shells, with their crystal cells,
Twin sisters of the sea. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: KT Event

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. On this double page spread the stanza that began on the previous spread is finished: 

The Almighty's breath spoke out in death, 
And the ammonite was no more. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: The Shore

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. The last bit of happiness together before it gets sad.

And they came at last to a sea long past,
But a they reached its shore,

Nautilus and Ammonite: Sleep

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. The background pattern reminds me of the wallpaper in my childhood bedroom. At some point we peeled it off to paint my room pink, and I remember saving a large, folded sheet of the original wallpaper as a keepsake. Sadly, I lost it in the years since. Wallpaper has gone out of fashion with most interior home decor, but I love when I encounter a home with some really beautiful patterned wallpaper. The house here at Soaring Gardens has a lot to enjoy in that respect.

This is the fifth double-page spread. It is meant to be paired with this stanza:

They sailed all day through creek and bay,
And traversed the ocean deep;
And at night they sank on a coral bank,
In its fairy bowers to sleep. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: The Tropic Life

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. This is the third stanza and also the third double-page spread.

And theirs was a bliss more fair than this
Which we taste in our colder clime;
For they were rife in a tropic life--
A brighter and better time. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: Summer Smiles

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. This is the fourth stanza and also the fourth double-page spread.

They swam 'mid isles whose summer smiles Were dimmed by no alloy; Whose groves were palm, whose air was balm, And life one only joy.

Nautilus and Ammonite: Sinking Into the Deep

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. This is the second stanza and also the second double-page spread. 

For each could swim on the ocean's brim,
     And, when wearied, its sail could furl,
And sink to sleep in the great sea-deep,
     In its palace all of pearl.  

"Plesiosaur Swimming In Circles"

Plesiosaur Swimming in Circles
30" x 22"
mixed media (watercolors, collagraph, woodcut)

This is yet another one-off print that branched from work on The Nautilus and the Ammonite. 

I seriously need to get some dedicated time in a professional screen printing studio to further explore these ideas and issues. Eventually... 

"T-Rex Enters"

T-Rex Enters 
30" x 22"
mixed media (watercolors, collagraph, woodcut)

This is another one-off print that branched from work on The Nautilus and the Ammonite. I know the color has something to do with what's happening with these - Tyranosaurus is strongly associated with red and yellow in my mind. I know these associations have some connection to plastic toys and children's book illustrations from both my own childhood and what I've been constantly exposed to as a teacher of kids and primary caretaker of my own kids. I'm not sure where this is going, but I really hope I manage to find the time and space to explore dinos further.  

"Wandering Stegosaurus"

Wandering Stegosaurus
30" x 22"
mixed media (watercolors, collagraph, woodcut)

I'd been wanting to take the woodcuts I've made for The Nautilus and the Ammonite and use them in other works of art. This is one finished piece. I'm working very intuitively on these, and even though I was consciously trying to make it more asymmetrical, that wasn't working so I ended up with this instead.

Nautilus and Ammonite: Friendly Strife

The next finished artwork for the Nautilus and the Ammonite book project. It is here that the young, twin sisters of the sea meet for the first time. 






The nautilus and the ammonite
     Were launched in friendly strife,
Each sent to float in its tiny boat
     On the wide, wide sea of life.