…are needed to complete a piece, or at least to call it complete. The path I try to follow, gleaned from several sources is: be curious, question, explore, collect ideas, learn skills, file, filter, reflect, experiment, watch for creative collisions, prototype, work, deadline, deliver, repeat! My deadline in this case was to complete a poem for Mila Grace (in the Collage Gallery) and set it before the dear girl starts college. (Thank you to John for the admonition.) Look what had to come together: I planted the Spirea in 2015, I made the bird box with curated items from Vicky’s stash in 2017, I started the poem at the beginning of this May and workshopped it for a month, I decided to set the poem in the bird box, I typed prototypes and made slight edits to make it fit, I chose vintage papers, typed and glued the poem, the sun came out, the spirea bloomed, I took a photo of the box in front of the spirea with my phone. Tuesday I will deliver the box to Mila and her parents. I will rest on my laurels for a second or two, then on to the next work!
backdrop 
setting 
love poem, captured