Patchwork is my anti-war book — an immediate response to the war which has dominated the news for the past year, although it has its roots in a more distant past, for number of the images were culled from sketches and paintings done over many years, some, in fact, in response to other wars and catastrophes. Others, from an archive of unused work, unexpectedly found their rightful place here, for their evocation of sorrow.

Recently I had also been mulling the idea of doing a book incorporating the pieces of a patchwork quilt into the narrative. I  hadn’t expected it to be this one, but once I had begun putting together the illustrations for this book, it came to me that the quilt could serve to connect and unify them. I’ve always loved quilts, but as I lack the necessary sewing skills, I have never made one. Using real fabrics and cutouts, I collaged an imaginary one.

The quilt in Patchwork is also meant to speak, without words, of a means of remembrance and healing.