A book hand bound by Laurette in red leather, tooled with gold leaf. Title Page. 21 pages with watercolor landscapes followed by 7 blank pages. Deckle-edged archival paper. January 20, 1978 – April 1978. 6 1/2” x 4 3/4”.
This book is unique in more than one sense. It comprises, for example, essentially my complete work in this genre. Beyond subject matter as art, the landscape is intimately connected with all that I am involved with as writer and naturalist.
Over the course of my early years I painted watercolor landscapes on rare occasions, and even more rarely in oils. This is not for any lack of deepest respect for the genre, so central to the art of infinitely varied cultures throughout human history, or from any lack of desire on my own part to devote myself to it.
It is just that the whole body of my work, in its three manifestations, has never allowed room for more than brief excursions over widely scattered opportunities in this expressive direction.
Over the first third of the year in 1978 I had one of those sustained periods of specific concentration on one theme that has been a sine qua non for my creative production.
Greatly inspired by the hand bound book that Laurette made for me, I decided to dedicate it to landscapes of our cherished immediate surroundings.
The great majority of these small watercolors were done from views out of windows in a farmhouse we rented during the first six years we lived in Warner. The house and its large barn were situated on a hill atop Bartlett’s Loop, a dirt road off Pumpkin Hill Road that at that time had no other house in sight, or in the near vicinity. [I treat this era in a chapter entitled “Pumpkin Hill” in my Self-Portrait With Turtles.”]
Those six years in an idyllic setting with inspiring landscape views in all directions, including distant hills to the west and north, doubtless were the source inspiration for my entering this “zone” and keeping to it with an intense focus.
The setting we lived in played an essential role in Laureate’s painting as well. The landscape, often in marshes and other wetland environments, as well as seascapes, have always been a significant subject of her art.
I have spent a great deal of time considering whether or not to reserve this book as an integral part of my core archive. It is a signal part of my personal and artistic history.
In the end I have decided it put it up for consideration as an acquisition either as part of an archive-level collection or as an individual object for individuals, archive, or museums dedicated to collections of one of a kind artists’ books.
In such a case I would be pleased to supply images of all 21 pages. The price as an individual object: $12,000.
My Five Published Books
Trout Reflections
Following the Water
Year of the Turtle
Self-Portrait With Turtles, A Memoir
Swampwalker’s Journal
Hand Bound Books
A Book of a Number of Hours
A Book of Winter Buds
A Book of Winter Branches
Borradores
Landscapes – January 20, 1978 – April 1978
Variations: February 1, 1967 – August 1, 1968
Visions: Drawings and Paintings: 1976 – 1988
Exhibitions
“Seldom Seen” Exhibition at the Davidow Center
“Beyond Words” Exhibition at the Currier Museum
Galleries
“Seldom Seen” Gallery
David’s Wildlife Studies Sketchbook
Virtual Gallery of Art Produced for My Five Books
“Regarding Women Regarding…” Introduction
Sketchbook Gallery: 4/1/1985 – 10/14/1987
Swamp Sketchbook
The Swamp Dialogs
Drawings and Watercolors Produced to Illustrate my Published Books
CODIT – Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees