Ulma the Elm

Montecito artist Bill Dalziel, who lost his home in the mudslides, has published his first book Ulma, The Kidnapped Tree.

The work, handsomely illustrated with his own pictures, tells of an architect’s dream in bringing an elm, an American Liberty Tree, from Virginia to a shopping center in Southern California.

“It’s a heart-filled story of a young elm and her friend, Charlie, the eastern Blue Jay, that takes us on a journey of love and loss, sadness and freedom, and the trauma of an earthquake that eventually brings freedom to Ulma, the Liberty Tree,” explains Bill, a world traveler.

He is currently working on two other books, Zen Poetry and Musings, and a Book of Portraits.

Next month he is also unveiling a 15ft. by 3ft. five-panel ink mural Paradise Found at Pierre Lafond’s Wine Bistro.