Symmetrical tree of life with scrollwork design

The screen is nearly finished apart from the top rail, and Mr Pryce has stopped shouting at me, which I take as praise. He made me draw the tree again last night because the roots on my first sheet wandered off to the left like a drunk man looking for his hat.

The trick, he says, is to draw one half, fold the paper along the trunk, then press the back with a bone folder so the pencil comes through on the other side. I did the acanthus leaves by hand, curling them the way shavings come off the plane, but the roots I cannot make match no matter how hard I try. He just says let them go. Roots are roots, and nobody digs them up to check.

Yesterday I found the part I like best, at the foot of the lower panel, where the scrollwork tapers to a single leaf point, sharp as a nib. He had me shade it three times until it sat dark against the white. A thing should finish in a point, he said, or it looks like someone cut it off with a door.

Come up at Michaelmas if you can, and bring the good 4B pencils, not the stubs you left in my drawer. I'll show you the tree under the lamp, where the fold lines vanish and the crown looks as though it grew there by itself. Your loving brother, Tom.