The Star Princess sings a lullaby.

Weasels are making me tidy the house as they do not like the chaos that has formed over months of working in my studio. For want of places to put things my door has become a pinboard.

Meanwhile another spread is finished and I have people wanting books and it is time to move quickly onto the next spread.

Baby's bed's a silver moon

Sailing o'er the sea,

Sailing o'er a sea of sleep

While the stars go by.

Sail baby sail,

Far across the sea,

But don't forget to come

Back home again to me.

For some reason this painting came through very differently from what I had expected when the words first ran around in my head. The woman is from Tell Me a Dragon, the star princess, grown up and fallen in love and waiting for her sailor husband to return while she sings their child to sleep. It is odd how sometimes these characters take on a life of their own and spin their own tale. I should imagine that few people will notice where she came from. A secret that passes from book to book.

So many thing to do with writing is simply asking questions. George Mackay Brown called it 'the interogation of silence'. Even though she is a character that I created out of coloured water I wonder, does she ever set foot on the earth or live only in the sky? Where did they meet? Does she still have her dragon? What is her name?