Leanne Shawler, Artist

I attended Flora Bowley's "Brave Intuitive Botanicals" class on Wednesday and we did some writing. In my case, that a sprig of rosemary was writing to me.  The timer was up before the letter was finished, but even so, her words are words you need to hear also, so I've done a bit of editing and put it in poem form below. I want you to know you are resilient.    Even through drought I have survived, you will survive too.  You are enough. Stay grounded,  be rooted in love. Shelter the birds, those who need you.  Keep safe by staying put.  I am full of fragrance that you love.  Your sweet medicine is useful and nourishes others.  I want you to know that all will be well, even through cataclysm and loss.  All will be well.  And you are loved. Love, Rosemary And as a graphic, using the page where I did a blind contour drawing of the rosemary sprig.

Venice is at the top of my list for overseas destinations (other than Australia obviously). Preferably when the city isn't flooded due to one of the king tides, but any other time would be fine. (OK, except Carnivale, because crowds are not my thing.)  I drool over movies like "Casanova" which are set in Venice. (And "The Merchant of Venice" ) In fact, I even sat through that Angelina Jolie/Johnny Depp film set there. Truly, any movie featuring the gorgeous landscapes and townscapes of Italy has me sighing. Weirdly, I love the idea of getting lost in those twisting Venetian alleyways and the thought of coming upon some hidden from the tourists vignette. But as we just got back from Australia, an European trip isn't on the cards straight away. However ... Today, Mary Ann Moss opened up registration for a new class called "Ticket to Venice" . She's not only going to teach a new binding for the travel journal, but we'll be seeing Veni...

So I've been meaning for a couple of weeks to share some of "what I did" from Mary Green's "My Vintage Gluebook" class. All the lessons are still available if you want to have a go, and people are still posting to the Flickr group. Now I just need to get my papers organized and I can do this with slightly more ease than currently!