Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

When I found the letter with the Australian postmark on the doormat, I wondered who on earth it could be from. A handwritten envelope that felt as if it held something more than a letter. Staving off curiosity until I had let out the dog, fed the fish and made coffee, I sat down at last to open it… and was thrilled to find a small book inside… with one of my paintings on the cover.

It all made sense then. A while ago I had a comment, from poet Antony Fawcus, asking permission to use one of my paintings to illustrate a suite of poems he was writing for FanStory. I was more than happy to agree. A little later, Tony informed me that the poems were to be published in chapbook format, and he kindly offered to send me a copy by post.

What I didn’t expect…