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". 

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! 

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.  

Sketchbook Sunday: Nautilus Shell Collaborations

I often print extra copies of my woodcuts and linocuts for my kids to color. I have a bunch of extra nautilus shell linocuts I've printed to practice drawing the protagonists in my new book project. Here's a couple I let my daughters finish.

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. 

Nautilus and Ammonite: Plesiosaur Pages

Plesiosaur  and Plesiosaur Fossil  
Double page spreads 11-12 and 13-14 
Screenprint, woodcut, linocut, watercolor, and collage on Rives BFK 
22” x 14” each 

Sometimes it's hard to get a project started, and other times it's difficult to complete one. Especially if the process is lengthy. I have already enjoyed many successes along the way to creating the artwork for my third book, but making final, permanent decisions about works can be rather daunting. Particularly, I worry about overworking a piece and inadvertently destroying the most lively aspects of what I've already done.

Just over a year ago I completed the storyboard, dummy book, and screenprinted backgrounds and began linocuts and woodcuts for the pages in The Nautilus and the Ammonite book. However, I had not yet finished any artwork of actual pages until this week. The idea for the project came almost two years ago, and I had done some preparatory work for it with sketches and learning to make screenprints, but the project really got off the ground during my residency last September at Sunny Point. Unfortunately, soon after that residency I ended having to sell my house and move, and so the project was put on the backburner for months, and it is only recently that I've been very slowly pulling myself (dragging, really) back into the mindset necessary to complete the work.

These are the first two completed artwork for double-page spreads, not including the text that will eventually be added. I was so afraid to pull the trigger on making final decisions for these works, but now that I've done it I am quite pleased with the results. I don't think I'll be diving back into this project at full speed, but this is at least the catalyst I needed to at least pick up the pace and feel more confident about the direction the project is taking.

The text that is meant to accompany these pages goes as such:

And the monsters vast of ages past

They beheld in their ocean caves;

They saw them ride in their power and pride,

And sink in their deep-sea graves.

I'm At Sunny Point!

I am currently fulfilling a ten day artist residency at the Arts Center of Yates County Sunny Point. Sunny Point is a beautiful bit of land on Keuka Lake which includes a little white cottage, a large red barn studio, and a garage that is currently being converted into a ceramic studio. It was donated to the Art Center by the late Dr. Annie Smith (author of Bearing Up Cancer, among many other accomplishments) as a place for creativity and healing. Any artists interested in applying for residencies at Sunny Point click here.

So as you, dear readers, might imagine, I'm in a state of bliss. In the past I've enjoyed a number of writing and visual art retreats/residencies, and from 2004-2006 I spent two years immersed in a graduate studio. But this is the first time in seven years that I've had the opportunity to focus completely on my art-making in total peace and solitude for any concentrated period of time. Basically the first time since I had my lovely daughters (who I do miss terribly; they are coming to visit soon!) So I feel as if I am deeply savoring this residency more than any previously.

Even though I've been working in the studio like mad, I don't have anything quite finished enough to share yet. Probably tomorrow. I can say that I'm finally getting some real headway on my new book, The Nautilus and the Ammonite. Screen printing, linocuts, woodcuts, and watercolor painting are all involved, and things are going swimmingly.

Indiegogo Campaign Art Card #6: Ammonite

2.5" x 3.5" art card
Oil-based ink on cream-colored, 90" smooth paper
Open edition

This is the sixth of 8 original woodcut art cards being created during my Indiegogo fundraising campaign. These will be thank-you gifts for all funders who contribute $20 or more. Funders will get to choose their preferred design to receive.

Yesterday I posted card #5 depicting a nautilus shell. Today's print depicts the fossilized shell of an extinct ammonite. One of my upcoming book projects will be illustrating the poem The Nautilus and the Ammonite, anonymously written, in which two aquatic cousins form a friendship, travel and witness great sights together, until the ammonite is lost in the same mass extinction that ended the reign of dinosaurs. 

Writing about another ammonite fossil woodcut in October of last year, I outlined some of the reasons why I think these creatures have captured so much of my attention. 

Click here to view all the blog posts featuring my ammonite prints. 

Indiegogo Campaign Art Card #5: Nautilus

2.5" x 3.5" art card
Oil-based ink on cream-colored, 90" smooth paper
Open edition

This is the fifth of 8 original woodcut art cards being created during my Indiegogo fundraising campaign. These will be thank-you gifts for all funders who contribute $20 or more. Funders will get to choose their preferred design to receive.

As those who have been following this blog over the past year know, I've been particularly interested in ammonite fossils. The Nautilus is a close relative and also has a spiral shell. One of my upcoming book projects will be illustrating the poem The Nautilus and the Ammonite.