Original 22” x 30” framed Forest Bouquet is a hand printed linoleum relief print on Japanese paper that has been cut out and collaged onto a tea stained sheet of cotton rag paper.  The white of the Japanese paper and the rich black of the oil based ink makes a striking contrast when collaged onto the warm tones of the hand stained paper.

This print was created specifically for the Bonny Doon Art and Wine Festival with the Bonny Doon Community in mind. I have a deep love for the mountains and the wild beauty that flourishes there. I have included in "Forest Bouquet" a selection of plants that can be found growing in the Santa Cruz Mountains such as Wild Iris, redwood and pine cones, blackberry blossoms, ferns, poppies and wild roses. I have also included morel mushrooms which are commonly known to flourish after a fire.  I was inspired to include a butterfly in the final piece after reading “How we saved our neighborhood from a fire” a story told to Dain Zaffke by Justin Robinson for Outside Magazine.The butterflies were the craziest and most surreal experience. They were just coming out of the forest, leading the fire. They’d land on me, land on my tools, like they just wanted to be around humans. That must have happened a hundred times. I found the whole story very powerful and moving especially this imagery as butterflies are worldwide symbols of resiliency, endurance transformation and hope.