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March 13, 2024

A to Z 2024 Theme Revelation!

         This will be my eighth year participating in the April A to Z Blog Challenge (plus one more year in which I did an alphabet series on my own).  During the Challenge, bloggers from around the world post 26 pieces through the month of April, arranged according to the alphabet.  Because this blog is about both Fantasy and Relief Block Printmaking, my themes in past years have been
     2016 - Mythical Creatures, a general digest
     2017 - Relief Block Printmakers
     2018 - Characters in the Books I’ve Written
     2019 - Mythical Creatures featured in my own book On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination
     2020 - Traditional English-language Nursery Rhymes and their block printed illustrations
     2021 - Mythical and Imaginary Places
     2022 - How to Make a Fantastical Creature (Traits common among monsters and marvels)
     2023 - Block Printed Alphabet Squared (an Alphabet of Block Printed Alphabets)
        That’s the history - feel free to revisit any of them (you can use the labels in the sidebar) and drop new comments.  But now the time has come to reveal the future: the theme for… (sound the fanfare…)
     2024 - The Botany of the Realms of Imagination
        I’ve done many many posts on magical creatures, but not too many on magical plants… and that omission ends now!  Presenting twenty-six posts lavishing attention on magical botany!  To clarify, this is about mythical plants of folklore, fairy tale, and fantasy, not about real plants that are said to have magical properties (although occasionally those categories may blur slightly).  As usual, I’ll give preference to block prints to illustrate the featured plants, but that won’t be possible for many of them, so there will be a wide variety of illustrations.
        In my usual sanity-saving practice, I will be starting early in order to give myself a few days off during the month of April.  You can come back next week for the letter A, or you can come back on April 1, and each day in April I’ll direct you to the officially scheduled letter with links.  This year, however, in a new and desperate additional attempt to preserve my sanity, I really am going to rein myself in and feature just a few plants each time.  And since my posts will be a little shorter than some years, you’ll have more time to read more of the other A to Z Blogs!  Be sure to check out the Master List of all the participating bloggers, which you can find HERE.
        So, put on your magical gardening gloves and get ready to dig in.  Maybe you’ll discover some new plants to grow in your own fantasy garden!  Or, if you’ve been around for a while, which was your favorite of my previous themes?


[Pictures: Assorted illustrations from Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis by Martin de la Cruz and Juan Badiano, 1552 (Images from Academia);

Garden Apartments, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2017 (sold out).]

21 comments:

  1. A logical continuation of your themes. As Mystee I to am looking forwards to reading more. I am still debating with myself if I'm going to do A to Z this year or not.

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  2. You must have read so many books to be able to populate 26 letters Anne - looking forward to it...

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  3. PS I love your customised A-Z blocks!!!

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  4. Yesss! I am so here for this! :) I love imaginary plants, maybe even more than imaginary creatures :) Welcome back to the challenge!

    The Multicolored Diary

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  5. This sounds interesting. I like plants and sometimes gardening except when they threaten to overwhelm me by growing too rapidly. Maybe imaginary plants are more controllable but then I thought of triffids. Definitely not nice.

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  6. There is always so much focus on fae creatures and the plants get over looked a lot. Nice to see they will be getting some love here
    Debbie

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  7. I loved your block letters last year - adding you to this year's reading list!

    https://dbmcnicol.com/2024-a-to-z-theme-reveal/

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  8. Love this theme. It's true, eh? It's easy to read about fantastical beast, but not so often we find fantastical plants.
    Can't wait to read your posts, they are always fantastic!

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  9. SOUnds interesting. I really like the way you incorporated the badges into your theme. Makes me want to go back and do the same!

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  10. Thanks for stopping by, everyone!
    Linda, I definitely don't think the magical plants are more controllable! But we'll see...
    Frewin and Kristin, I'm glad you're enjoying my badge modifications because of course doing them is kind of a stupid use of my time. lol But it's more fun than housework!

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  11. Oh, I can't wait to see how you weave print art and words together again!

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  12. This sounds like a fantastic theme! I'm really looking forward to seeing what interesting plants you cover!

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  13. Now this sounds like a fun and information blogging series. Will definitely be around to read more. :)

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  14. Fantastic theme you've chosen for the A to Z challenge! Can't wait to see what you have in store for the next letters of the alphabet.
    https://whiskeyandwhispers.blogspot.com/2024/03/unveiling-my-atozchallenge-theme-genre.html

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  15. This theme sounds really great! I'm eager to see what fascinating flora you write about.

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  16. What an interesting theme! Sounds like it will be fun and fascinating to read. Best of luck!

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  17. Fantastic theme reveal! I can't wait to explore your posts during the A to Z challenge in April. Wishing you all the best as you embark on this creative journey. Here’s a link to mine - https://hellfireandchaos.blogspot.com/2024/03/atozchallenge-theme-announcement.html

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  18. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all enjoy the bouquet!

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