Before heading into Triptych Fusion, I had a long list of projects I was actively involved in or about ready to dive into. Then Triptych Fusion came along and my attention was 100% focused on creating for the show, orchestrating details, and promoting ~ something that absolutely had to be done and I was more than happy to do. But now that the show is behind me and the ripple effect is coming to an end, I am able to get back to the projects and ideas I had put on the back burner. And one of those projects was with the talented artist Amy Siu. Back in July, I did a quick post about our collaboration where she is writing inspirational words and quotes in her beautiful script and calligraphy on my marbled papers. Amy does not live near me. She lives hundreds of miles away. So our process involves me making papers, cutting them down to size to fit into cards and mats, sending them to her, her writing on them, and then returning them to me. Everything happens in stages so it can be weeks (and in this case, months) before the end product is revealed. It's another lesson in patience for me (seems to be a theme this year).

So when I got our first round of efforts back to me, I was thrilled to death with the results. I thought they looked beautiful. Amy's talent is off-the-charts ~ her work is stunning. And it was obvious she put a lot of thought into making sure the words and quotes matched the energy of the marbled paper. Holding that first batch of work in my hands confirmed to me how perfect this collaboration was going to be.

And then this happened...

I spent a couple of days this week finishing off our joint effort by putting the papers into their card frames and mats and OH MY GOODNESS IT TOOK THINGS TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL!

It's amazing how even the simplest of "finishing touches" can take something from beautiful to gorgeous in a heartbeat.

Amy and I are in the process of exchanging another round of work and I wish I could snap my finger and make it all happen FASTER! But alas, I'll just have to take a chill pill and let it all unfold at a slower pace. And that's fine too. My intention is to sell the notecards and mats at Peach Tree Gallery's annual holiday show and that's not until December. Technically, we're ahead of the game. And by my count...winning it too!!