I am going through a no embellishment phase. I realised this at the weekend, when I finally managed to finish the (Italian) Father’s day collage for my husband. I had originally planned to finish it off with a couple of buttons and some ribbons, but when it came to adding them, I just felt they didn’t really work.

And it is not just a one-off.Over the last couple of weeks, whenever I made something, Ieither didn’t add embellishments or, if I did, I did it ‘because I had to’ rather than because I felt they were really needed. Now, considering I quite like my embellishemnts, I think this stems from two things—the first is that I am my experiments with paint have led me to create busier backgrounds—and there is only a certain amount of ‘busy’ I can take in a collage. And the second is that, lately, I am mostly drawn to paper and what I can do with it.

I wonder how long it will be before I ma back to rummaging in the embellishment bag. I also wonder whetehr this piece is somehow incomplete., but I really do prefer it incomplete than too busy. My husband was happy with it… but then he would be wouldn’t he?