I honestly don’t remember what sparked the idea to create an alphabet book. I’ve always loved painting animals, so maybe I just needed a purpose, something playful and open-ended. I picked a letter and made a page.
It started at least seven years ago, back before I ever picked up a tube of oil paint. At the time, I was keeping sketchbooks, as I always had, and occasionally creating with watercolors, something I’d done on and off since high school. Then, for my birthday, a friend gave me a beautiful pad of watercolor paper. Unlike the cozy 5x7 sketchbooks I was used to, this was big, bright, blank—and, frankly, exciting!
I honestly don’t remember what sparked the idea to create an alphabet book. I’ve always loved painting animals, so maybe I just needed a purpose, something playful and open-ended. I picked a letter and made a page. I researched quirky animal facts and composed them on the page with markers. I didn’t worry about sticking to a style or a color scheme. The goal was simple: to explore, to fill each page with whimsy and wonder, and to have fun doing it.
The only thing I kept consistent was the materials and technique. The layout, content, and color were a creative free-for-all. Whenever I needed a new project or felt a shift happening in my artistic life, I’d pull the ABC book out and work on another page. There were long pauses, months, sometimes years, but the project always waited patiently for me to return.
At the time, I had no plan. I wasn’t thinking about publishing or finishing. I was just enjoying the process. But somewhere along the way, the pages began to take on a life of their own. Friends started asking about it. They’d flip through and say, “You have to publish this.” And slowly, I started to believe them.
Now, seven years later, all 26 letters are complete. Each one features an unusual animal, painted by hand and bursting with facts, surprises, and strange delights. I’ve had them professionally scanned, and I’ve done the research into self-publishing a proper art book.
So here’s the thing… As I looked at the finished pages, I realized: each letter needs a companion. A facing page. So now I’m creating 26 more pages, “What else starts with ___?” featuring odd objects, folklore, forgotten tools, and curious creatures that deserve their moment in watercolor.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t take me another seven years.
