"Proof of Winter" by Anna Laitinen

I recently discovered the artwork of Anna Laitenen (or as she often signs herself annA Emilia), an artist illustrator working in Finland, a country I obsess about and plan on visiting one day. See my Moomin posts. It's a land filled with lakes and seashores and cold and tiny flowers and tiny islands. Though this artist book of hers is about a winter spent in Iceland.

Anna's work is delicate and filled with nature, or nature intersecting with huts and beds and tea. Tiny blossoms and ice crystals abound. This book, "Proof of Winter" (available in her shop and promptly shipped out from Finland),  is about finding a way to love winter in all its brutality and desire to not be friends with anyone. So she creates a wonderland in her own home, "Inside the house I played the biggest icicle instrument".

But here I'm just showing her packaging. Her immaculate lovely packaging. The notecard! The matching patterned tape! The ocean-colored string! Her perfect perfect loopy handwriting! The book is a pleasure, even more surprisingly because the text is so in resonance with my own magical thinking. Oh Anna, may I come visit Finland and discover the same things that inspire you so much. Although I don't think I have the courage or stamina to spend a winter in Iceland, despite my love of Bjork and her love of the crisp sound of crunching through snow in winter there.

Photos by me, amazing book and thoughtful wrapping by Anna Laitenen