Cleopatra Emerald

JULY The forest is in full bloom "July bursts with color, and not just in the expected places. Flip a log and you might find a blue-spotted salamander, mottled like fine porcelain. On the forest floor, the violet coral fungus is shocking not only because of its color but because it looks like coral. Birds are thick into the business of raising their young. Other creatures are trying hard to blend in, to not turn into food for hungry baby birds. Can you find the Virginia creeper sphinx moth, banded in gray green, against the leaves of Virginia creeper? The black willow leans out over the edges of streams and ponds, springs up in swamps. Its wood is soft but bendable, a favorite of beavers and basket weavers. At the tips of its brittle branches, catkins send seeds into summer winds. The twigs are made to snap and float downstream, where they may drop roots in a muddy bank and become trees." -Kateri Kosek from The Forest Revealed This painting/page from "The Forest Revealed" celebrates some of my favorite things the month of July has to offer. Here's some close-ups, and the sketches that got me to the final art. The book will be out in September, but is available to preorder now.

Photos: Lifta, all that remains. Photography by Essa Grayeb

by emilie.hofferber