Radio Silence

Sorry for the recent lack of updates. I've been in a frenzy of work lately! I've even revived my old habit of doing an extra few hours of work from 11 to 1 (or two!) after the rest of my family has gone to bed. I can't do this too often before it starts to catch up with me, but longer than you might think because Anna is so accoustomed to me saying incoherent things that it takes her a long time to notice when I'm even more incoherent than usual.

Here's a link to a really clever craft called "fore-edge painting" (pictured below), where you paint a hidden image on the fanned edge of a book. Thank's Lorraine, for the link!

A Spot of Art

A recent illustration from a little book on the Cure of Ars:

Birth Announcement

Well we've had a busy weekend. Julia Noel Hatke was born at 7am on Saturday, at home. As you can see from the picture above, both mother and baby are doing really well. (I've posted several more pictures on my Flickr Page) At just over 7 pounds, Julia is our biggest baby to date. With three daughters I am now officially overwhelmed by girls -but when I look at Angelica and Zita and Julia (and Anna), I really can't think of a nicer way to have the balance of power is so stacked against me.

As many of you know, we've had our three births at home (with a midwife). The intimate involvement in the issuing forth of a new life is certainly beyond my ability to describe. I can only say that birth is a thing of such raw and awful beauty that it makes an artist want to hang up the ol' brushes and pens for good. How can one compete?