I Made a Book!

This book, this book! I am so excited about this book. I had the idea to make a book two years ago. As soon as I had the idea, I could see it. It was like it already existed.

The only other Mount Tam art book I knew about was by Tom Killion. Of course, I have had that book for years and love it but it is woodcut prints. I had never seen a book about Mount Tamalpais with oil paintings. This had to exist! And I was going to be the one to make it happen.

Gathering the images was easy. I have about 170 paintings of Mount Tam dating back to 2004. I went through them all, curating the best ones for the book. Tonia Jenny, a seasoned book maker and editor helped me with the layout.

But now... uh-oh what would I say, what would I write? I thought about this for about a year. Facts about Mount Tam history and geology? Ecology? Do I include Poetry? Invite another writer to help?

I don't know about you, but when I splurge on an art book, it is ALL ABOUT THE IMAGES. I don't read much of the text, unless it is a biography. So I knew that whatever I wrote it would be short.

After talking to friends, writers, artists and whoever would listen, I finally figured it out. The text in the book had to be me. It had to come from the same voice that paints the paintings and loves the Mountain. So I organized the book into four chapters, one for each season and I included bits of what happens on Tam with the wildlife during each season. I also included short personal stories about Tam and why it inspires me. The words are poetic and not perfect and totally me.

Publishing houses would be taking a big risk publishing this book because my audience is so small and coffee table books are expensive so I decided to print the book myself.

And now here it is! Celebration!

If you get a chance to spend some time with the book in your hands, I hope it connects to the part of you that knows how gorgeous this life can be - that knows the world can be so beautiful sometimes, it hurts a little. And from this I hope it inspires some gratitude and peace.