As a strange and imaginative child I used to whisper a lot to a scraggly dogwood tree growing in my backyard. A few years ago, the tree quite suddenly and fully died. 
 
With enormous help from friends, family, neighbors and power tools I've been printing my own heart and other internal medical imagery onto these already beautiful rotting dogwood slices. Pieces are varnished, collaged, and carved individually. 
 
This piece includes goldleaf, rice paper and found shell collage.