Frayed Rope, Collab and last one in Andrea's Mole

The reason it took me so long to complete this collaboration is that I wanted to use the same pens Gretchen used, and I sent away for them, and waited and waited and when they came, I was away for a week. turns out they aren't exactly the same anyway. But they look closer in person than they do here.

The other thing is that these are metallic. They're shinier than they look here. To view larger, click on the image.

This is a collaboration with both Gretchen and Roma, sort of. I used Roma's frayed rope girl on a swing. I'm picturing her swinging from a hot air balloon. My hands aren't as steady and Gretchen's, either, I'm sorry to say. If you'd like to see Gretchen's original first half of the collaboration, it is here. Roma's is here.

Since I have completed the book, I will be sending it off to Ammon, ASAP, but I am not sure when that will be for sure, as my schedule this week is extremely full.

So, for Aya, here is a small sad poem I wrote today:

Strings

The sad saw of violins, cellos, bass

lowers the temperature in the room

five degrees, ten degrees, twenty degrees.

Snow falls from the darkening ceiling,

gathers on the small shelves of our lips

and filters through our minds, erasing

hope and love and leaving

only blank white in its wake,

white that greys and darkens

until every tear is frozen

in night's icy symphony.

Mary Taitt

for Laurent and Aya