illustration by Susan Ebertowski |
"Candles for Esmirelda" is the first Christmas story that I wrote after the publication of my book Paper Angels last year. Myra and her great grandmother are characters in the book's opening story, "The Man Who Photographed Angels." "Candles for Esmirelda" is set in Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Northwest Denver. Last year I made a website with photographs I took of the church called Guadalupe Angels. Susan Ebertowski, who designed the booklet, lives in Minneapolis where she makes really big posters for Target stores. She also does her own artwork. I met her while she was attending the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver. We got together in Taos in June of this year where she was attending a watercolor seminar. It was the summer of many wildfires. You can find some pictures from this trip at a small website I made called New Mexico Sunset. For the cover illustration (at left) Susan made a drawing on paper, copied it onto a scratchboard that was covered in dried ink and etched the lines of the drawing onto the board. The resulting image was photocopied and used on the booklet's cover. See About Scratchboard for a simple diagram of this technique. Susan also designed the booklet cover for my Christmas story, To Hear the Angels Sing. The story is included in Paper Angels. - Joe Beine, December 2002 |