Comic book series : The native trees of Canada

Renowned artist and designer Leanne Shapton has taken a century-old book and reinterpreted it in a series of bold, painted images. Shapton takes the otherwise complex objects of trees and strips them down into stark, almost abstract shapes and colors. She distills each subject into its simplest form, using vivid colors in lush gouache paint. Her passion is evident in each painting: the waterbirch is represented as two pulsating red bulbs contrasted against a grey backdrop; the eastern white pine is represented by a close up of its leaves against a radiant summer sky.