They're done and mailed off yesterday. In brief:
Watercolour paper with leaf stamp, watercolour and twinkling H2Os on washi, Gocco print of skeletal trees, glued text, copper tape and chalk ink.

I was thinking of all the times I've heard artist friends recently talking about the fact that they just haven't been creating. I always say that fields must lie fallow between crops and we, as artists, must rest and restore between creative spells. The pages say "Even in the depths of winter, the forest dreams of new growth" to remind us that growth is a circular process in which the unproductive times are part of the cycle of creation.

Both my thumbs and two fingers are covered in tiny cuts and scratches. That is on top of the dry skin I have from felting. Yesterday I just used polysporin as handcream!

I needed a porous green for a Gocco background. I wanted the ink to sink right in. "Watercolours" I thought, and tried my twinkling H20s which turned out prettily, but not the shade I wanted. So I went to get a little bit of green watercolour and the tube was rock hard. Happily though this launched me back into the mindframe for Carla's 10 things project. So out with 10 tubes of paint that I haven't used in years.
Tip: for those of you without a clutter problem you can still use dried watercolour by (carefully) cutting open the tube and treating the hardened paint like pan watercolours. I however have a serious clutter problem and have to find a home for the Gocco and its ink.

The five things come from heart and mind of gratitude. Liz does this often and it always inspires me. Yesterday's five:
- working with a school that values me enough that it created a job for me to fit my desire for more balance and space in my life
- friends that not only accept my eccentricities but value them
- family that I love so fiercely
- all the trees in London, especially
- early spring blossom

Today I am grateful for:
- my gentle, encouraging, funny husband,
- my abundance of art supplies
- the human connections made possible by the internet
- the chance to go to Artfest
- flannel pajamas and knitted afghans