kimberly alidio is my partner of over five years. she has been my support and inspiration for all of that time. she is not only a scholar, but she herself is an artist of many shades. i won't embarrass her by describing the many creative things she can do. next time you see her, you should ask. i know i'm extremely biased, but she is extremely talented. this piece probably took the longest of all the cards thus far. i had the concept in my head since i first started on the project. it felt a bit silly, like, "duh, you love her most in the world. of course your heart is hers." but i was afraid of the execution. i searched multiple sources for a cross-section image of the human heart. i had in mind those images i remember from high school bio class. and i knew i wanted to overlay it on some other imagery. when i talked to my therapist about my idea, she mentioned how the human heart not only departs from the cliched heart shape, but it also conveyed a sense of vulnerability.

actually starting on this piece was difficult because i had somehow gotten it into my head that what i made for kim had to be the best thing in the world, and if it wasn't, somehow that would mean i didn't love her enough. this was pure nonsense. and once i came to that realization, i was already finding images. i sketched many of them until i came up with a sketch i liked. i then traced the sketch with vellum, and flipped the image over. then, i traced it once again with india ink on a plastic transparency on the reverse side of that facing front. i used india inks for the color fill as well. i was very pleased with the varying degrees of transparency for each color. as the heart image dried, i saw my rub-on letter set in front of me. then, the phrase, "mine is yours," popped into mind and i began rubbing it onto the postcard, one letter at a time. i wore out one sheet of letters and had to go to three art and office supply stores before i found more. once that was done, i realized i needed to affix the transparency to the card. i considered glue, but prior experience told me that glue might not withstand the treatment that the post office might have in store. i considered staples. when i thought about staples, i thought about surgical staples, which lead to sutures. running to our stash of sewing supplies, i found a hoard of embroidery thread. i tested the technique on another card and found that the thread would hold the transparency so long as it was tight enough. i tried multiple stiches, including a cross stitch and a traditional over-under stitch. i eventually chose this wip stitch, partly because it seemed the strongest, but also because it resembled surgical stitching.

it's only a piece of it, but it's the one that counts.