I am trying to follow Esme and Alice's advice to stay busy, filling my idle hours with reading so many of the books written by and about women that I thought would hold no interest to me whatsoever in the past. I am embarrassed at how much progress in thought I have missed in this regard, but am most glad of the opportunity to put that ignorance right now.
I am also working on a series of portraits for the library project of notable female authors. The authors I have chosen are Emily Bronte, George Eliot, Audrey Lourde, Harper Lee, Jane Austen, Mary Shelly, Virginia Woolfe. Maya Angelou, and Anais Nin.
In addition to these portraits I ordered a clamp so that I can try my hand at fore edge painting. As a child I remember being shown a modestly sized gilt edged volume of poetry by my grandmother. I was fascinated as she gently fanned out the pages of the book to reveal a hidden painting of a bucolic scene, that disappeared once she let the pages fall back to their natural position.
It is an indulgence, I admit, but 'tis better to pour my emotions into a creative outlet, than to let them be an inconvenience to Bella. This way my love letter shall exist, even though it shall never be read, and that to me holds some importance. So I shall paint hidden watercolour scenes along the gilded fore edges of the copies of Bella's favourite books. The detailed miniature work puts my steady hand and inhuman precision to good use. Whilst the older generation of my youth still had miniatures on ivory, we were all far more interested in the novelty of photography, so I never turned my hand to this kind of artwork before.
Perhaps one day someone shall chance upon one of them and enjoy the mystery of wondering who painted them and why.
I suppose Alice was right when she said I should get a hobby.
A/N: Please leave a review! Thanks so much to my wonderful beta wh1teow1, please show some love and read Moirai, a reimagining of Twilight for the new decade!
You can see a picture of Edward's fore edge painting on my Deviantart page, search for user Logladyj and you should find me. What's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you?