floating tissue paper

every year i dry about a dozen of these lilypad leaves. there are flotillas of them along the edge of our dock every summer.  but very few of them last into winter. they are incredibly fragile (and i am notoriously not careful). once dried, you soon realize they are essentially floating tissue paper, borrowing their structure from the surface tension of the water. so every year i dry them, and every year they fall apart in my hands the first time i pick them up. this year i got lucky, mostly because i was busy with caretaking and out of the studio a lot. so they survived my indelicate jostling. and i am glad they did. honestly, who knew what a beautiful earthy palette they had hidden beneath their summer swimsuit of chlorophyll green?

dried water lily leaves