A Recent Post on the Artist of Texas blog:
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems
Inspired by South Florida Beaches
You can find so much more than just
sand on the beach. You can find people, animals, interesting and unusual
objects, and occasionally, deep thoughts! In this collection of free verse
poems, Denise Bossarte takes you on an adventure to explore the things you can
find on the beach. Each poem's imagery is reflected in a paired watercolor
illustration by award winning artist Nancy Standlee.
It had always been my dream to
publish the poems I had written on my walks on the beaches of South Florida.
While living in Florida, I often
went out walking on the beaches before the crowds arrived, when I could experience
the beach intimately without having to avoid stepping on sunbathers!
I found particular images would grab
my eye, and I would walk along the beach composing poems to capture the
imagery. Once I had enough poems composed
that I couldn't remember any more that morning, I would go home and write them
down. I didn't want to use pencil and
paper while walking on the beach but would let the poem be formed and edited in
memory to keep the process part of the overall experience of the morning.
This was long before I became a
serious photographer or learned about Miksang Contemplative Photography. I now
know that these images were Miksang "flashes" and the poems were
Contemplative poems.
Many years passed before the world
of publishing became independent enough I could self-publish my poems.
I wanted to have illustrations for
each poem. I decided against photographs, because (1) there was no way to
easily recreate the images through photographs so many years later, and (2) I
didn't want the reader to have a photograph that might be too "solid"
and replace the imagery that the poems brought to mind. When I saw Nancy's posts of her
journaling in watercolors, I knew that I had found just the artist to do the
illustrations for my book. Such lively colors, so detailed, yet
whimsical!
I reached out to Nancy and we worked
through how to do the book. We were both novices at creating a book, so we just
figured it out as we went along. Nancy was doing a 30 paintings in 30
day challenge so the 24 images for the book fit right into that challenge. She did research into each poems'
subjects, like sea turtles, and worked to align her watercolors with the
individual poems.
Quite a daunting task, but she was
wonderfully successful. I've had people say they don't know whether the poems
or the illustrations came first!
Once Nancy was done with a number of
paintings, she mailed them to me to have a local printer do a high quality
scan, then I mailed them back. She was able to offer the originals
for sale on her website and I had the images for the book. I bought the cover image as soon as
I saw it, as it was done in stunning color and metallic paints!
A local graphic artist friend of
mine helped me put together the book cover which included the painting of
Nancy's of the Turtle King, and Nancy and my head shots. She was able to match the colors in
the Turtle King painting perfectly to create a beautiful cover for the book.
It was published as a soft copy book
and a Kindle e-book, both available on Amazon.com
It was really a dream come true to
see the beautiful book that Nancy and I created out there for the world to
read!
"Having been raised on the
beaches of Southern California, I found myself back there through the eyes of
this author and artist. I received DREAMS OF A TURTLE KING in my Christmas
stocking. Such a little treasure chest of dreams and memories and sand under my
toes."
"I grew up near beaches and
both the author and illustrator captured the scenes and thoughts of beach life.
As I was reading the words and looking at the lovely watercolors it even
brought to my mind the sounds of the waves rolling in from the ocean. Lovely
book Denise and Nancy."
Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
