This full-color, illustrated book is a celebration of nature, wildlife, and the incomparable beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
I was involved in this project from the very beginning, to review of the manuscript, to editing the text, writing the cover copy and promotional material, designing the cover and interior, and designing the ancillary promotional materials. I also managed the eventual print production of the final product, liaising with the printer to ensure timely delivery. The cover image is a favorite with booksellers, and the title received a five star review from Foreword Reviews prior to publication.
I designed the book in Adobe inDesign. The illustrations are credit to the author, but one of my biggest challenges was taking her pencil and watercolor illustrations and preparing them for print. In some cases the illustrations were done on slightly yellowed paper, and I had to lift the illustrations themselves off of the colored background in Adobe Photoshop and correct the colors to match the author’s original intention and color accuracy.
Inspired by the artistic aesthetic of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden (Holt, Rinehart & Winston Co, originally written in 1906 and published posthumously in 1977), the book is designed at 9.25 inches tall by 7.5 inches wide, bound in a flexi-bind cover. The interior incorporates a handwritten script-stylized typefaces in the headings and approachable, cheerful text that wraps cleanly around each sketched illustration.
My challenge in typesetting the interior involved wrapping the author’s stories and anecdotes around her sketches so that the text worked with the sketches and the sketches worked with the text, neither overpowering or overbalancing the other. The author’s sketches also include the occasional hand-written note, which had to be very precisely sized so that the text is legible.
The cover of Klee Wyck Journal is a window to the cabin itself, incorporating the artist’s own handwriting to capture the true flavor of the iconic scene. The flower and wooden board have been laid atop an illustration of the cabin, the spaces between the flower stems made transparent. The wooden board originally had text drawn on by the author to mimic words that had been painted on the board. I used Adobe Photoshop to remove the text drawn on by the author. Particularly challenging to be was removing this text from the image while still honoring and retaining the believable wood grain texture and color. I was successful, and the cover image remains a favorite with booksellers.
I also wrote the back cover description for this title.
After many years of paddling the waterways and outer coasts of the Pacific Northwest, author and artist Lou McKee planned a short kayaking trip near Vancouver Island with friends and family that unexpectedly became a yearly tradition. During the first trip that Pacific Northwestern summer, they chanced upon an enchanting stretch of beach and spent several days collecting stones polished by the ocean, exploring the nearby creek, and breathing in the wonder of untamed water and wilderness.
This remote coastal beach drew them back year after year, though the coastal rains become almost too much to endure. Thus, the Klee Wyck Cabin, as it came to be named, was borne from found cedar beach logs and other reclaimed wood to shield the travelers from summer storms. For a few weeks each year, friends and family came together to share stories, heartaches, celebrations, and the building of the tiny wilderness retreat cabin.
Lou took her journal and sketchbook with her to the cabin, documenting the construction and rendering local flora and fauna in colored ink and pencil drawings. Collected together in print for the first time, Klee Wyck Journal showcases the cabin and Lou’s remarkable lifetime on and near the water in exquisite, full color sketches.
Aubrey L White 