I have been collecting flowers and petals from flowers to press for some time now. The picture you see is the first of what I hope will be many. I chose Pansies for this first pressed flower picture because they are very close to my heart.

A matter of weeks before my adoptive mother died, she had spent days planting rows of Pansies in her garden as they were one of her favourites. I know that she was always happy and contented working in the garden; she used to always say that she felt “closer to God”. She died very suddenly, and without warning in the summer of 1993.

A number of years later, I received a card from a very dear friend. The picture on the front was of a small bunch of Pansies, and on the back my friend wrote that the meaning of the name Pansy is Heart’s Ease.

This spoke volumes to me in more ways than one. I got a real sense that my adoptive mother had at last found ease of heart in her passing, that she had found some degree of this when she worked in her garden making it beautifully colourful and full of variety during her lifetime, and also that I could hold onto the hope of finding my own “Heart’s Ease” one day. In the meantime, I find art work helps me towards this life-goal, and working with real pressed flowers is very rewarding because it means I can preserve something that is otherwise sadly short lived. Since the making of this picture, I got the sad news that my friend, Sylvia, has also passed away. I will miss her, but cherish some fond memories of a very dear friend.