Rec'd from Juana Almaguer - 9/12/2015

[chris wells]

Above is the envelope and the backside of a letter I got from Juana today. It took considerable effort to get this package to me due to postal machines misreading the back of the envelope as the front, and thus returning the mail to her! (See her own recent blog post about that.) She was generous to send me some rice paper to experiment with. I love the whale print on the envelope, the artistamp on the back (which the post office was, uh, "generous" enough to cancel), and what appears to be a rubbing (but may be a kind of print) on the back of the letter, too.

I really love Juana's work that I have seen and received--it's delicate, deep, yet also playful. It's wonderful.

[Minneapolis Gnome]

I love this leaf print!  I also love the whimsical hand carved whale stamp.  

Almost 20 years ago I reclaimed a set of wooden shelves with my housemate using leaf prints and still love that bookshelf.  It was dirty, plain wood and had been tossed in an alleyway.  We cleaned it, painted the top and sides dark forest green, painted the shelves cream and then brought in the leaves.  We painted each leaf in maroons and other fall colors, then carefully pressed them to the bookshelf sides to leave their print.  It's now like a bookshelf straight from the forest and lives on my front porch holding many more books than it was ever designed for.  I highly recommend leaf images to all, they're good for the soul.

[chris wells]

Thank you again! I do love the print on the envelope, too. Also, thanks for explaining the process of how you printed the fern.