by Bud McClure
He fell to his knees. The rabbit leaped into his arms
and licked his face, and the boy held on for dear life.
Creating Divine Daisy
We owned a magical dog once and she was the inspiration for this book. The story itself came to me in a series of early morning images that appeared over a period of months. No matter how hard I tried to ignore them they continued to re-appear with a vividness that compelled me to act. I outlined the story and then began looking for an illustrator who could bring the story to life.
After a futile two-month search I wandered into a student exhibit at the Tweed Museum in Duluth and was immediately captivated by the artwork of Ginny Maki. I contacted her and briefly described the story to her and without a moment’s hesitation she joined the project. Her initial drawings had an uncanny, even eerie resemblance to those first images that had haunted me months earlier. The writing process that followed was joyful as the story flowed through me almost verbatim as it appears in the book today.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to everyone who participated in the process of creating this book: Molly McClure, Kim Robinson, and Nicole Schmidt who offered valuable feedback on the manuscript. Beth Bartlett whose careful editing and insight into the spiritual nature of this book made it better. Sandy Woolum who always finds a creative way to resolve the unresolvable. Jennifer Gordon who worked with me on the original design of the book. Laura Eagin, from the Savanna College of Art and Design, who made it all fit together so that the finished product was much greater than the sum of its parts. Finally, thanks to Lisa Fitzpatrick and the staff at the Visualization and Digital Imaging Lab where the design of this book took place.
A very special thank you to Ginny Maki who brought Divine Daisy to life with her illustrations. She was the perfect partner in this project and her beautiful artwork speaks for itself.
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