Plants speak to me – and I’m the first to admit I talk back to them, praising, coaxing and sometimes chastising them. Ever since I was a little girl, I have planted flowers and tended a vegetable garden. I dread the fall frost and can’t wait for spring to see the first tentative shoots emerge and to start seedlings under lights. Each year I somehow manage to squeeze more plants into my garden. I relish weeding, deadheading and getting dirt under my finger nails. So it’s no surprise that my art is all about the colors and patterns I extract from flowers and leaves, mostly grown in my own garden.

I'm a printmaker and bookbinder who creates colorful ecoprints on paper and transforms them into one-of-a-kind hand bound blank books. I make ecoprints by arranging carefully selected plant materials between damp sheets of paper, which I then press and heat by steaming or boiling. The plants’ pigments are captured on the paper and what's left goes into my compost pile. All the colours in my prints come from plants – I don’t use synthetic dyes, inks or paints – and every print is one of a kind.

My handcrafted books are made to be used. I seal the covers with a special starch to make them more durable and give them a pleasing leather-like feel. I choose strong waxed linen thread for the hand sewn Coptic stitch binding, which allows the pages to lie flat when the book is opened, and I always use high-quality acid-free paper for the inside pages.

Choose a book that inspires your creativity and write, draw, paint, sketch, collage, doodle, journal and more in it!