#caotlicue

It’s Fine Press Friday!

This week we present Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) and the Saguaro (Sa-wah-row) Cactus (A Twice-told Tale) designed, written, illustrated, printed, and bound by American book artist Joe D’Ambrosio (1934-2009), printed in 1996 in a limited edition of 125 copies in Phoenix, Arizona. The book relates the legend of how and why Saguaro cacti are found only in the desert.

Caotlicue, goddess of the Earth and patron of life and death, strikes down a human whom the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl has fallen in love with, as she is human and he is a god. Quetzalcoatl creates the saguaro to mark the maiden's grave. The hunter Oaxaca encounters the saguaro and then the ghost of the maiden, who tells him that she can be released if the saguaro is removed. But Caotlicue tells him the maiden can be revived if Oaxaca eliminates the cactus and marries the maiden. To this end, Caotlicue sends Oaxaca on a quest for a daisy that will kill the cactus.

Along the way, Oaxaca meets and falls in love with another woman, Siouxi. They both return with the daisy, but Quetzalcoatl kills Oaxaca. Siouxi convinces the two gods to bring Oaxaca back to life and turn the maiden into a goddess in order to be with Quetzalcoatl. Brilliant solution! In return, Quetzalcoatl has the daisy attached to the Saguaro as a symbol of his power and commands that the cactus, the humans, and their descendants may never leave the desert.

This fantastical story also comes with commentary from the author about the lack of believability of such a tale, but he does tell the reader that they will have to “proceed on the assumption that there is some truth to [the] story.”

The book is Illustrated throughout with color prints made from paper plates by D’Ambrosio, with hand-colored pop-up illustrations and 14 pt Antique type printed on two different colors of Confetti paper. Our copy is another donation from the collection of our late friend Dennis Bayuzick.

View other books from the collection of Dennis Bayuzick.

View more Fine Press Friday Posts.

Day 4: Trust/Betrayal

Coatlicue & Josh

This day is the one I was most excited to do because I FINALLY DECIDED TO DO THIS COATLICUE DRAWING THAT I WANTED TO DO FOR YEARS.

Well, basically this is the scene when Coatlicue reaches out to Josh, seen from the his perspective. And maybe not the best drawing out there but I feel so proud of it.

Real!Coatlicue  isn't exactly as described in the books but I did not have them with me and I knew it was some sort of monster snake. On the other side the Coatlicue l that sees Josh  it is exact because I imagined vividly that girl that sees Josh and I remembered to 100% its characteristics. The only failure, perhaps, is that in books is mentioned that she measures more than 2 meters and maybe here is a bit lower

Basically, it's the moment when Josh decides to trust and he's betrayed. And, yes, maybe the drawing doesn't go very well with the prompts but ARE YEARS OF WANTING TO DO THIS DRAWING.

P.S: Special thanks to my grandfather who helped me draw the extended arm of Coatlicue because WHO KNEW THAT DRAWING A DAMN ARM WOULD BE SO DIFFICULT.