In West With the Wind , Beryl Markham wrote : “ Passed years seem safe ones , vanquished ones , while the future lives in a cloud , formidable from a distance . The cloud clears as you enter it . I have learned this , but like everyone , I learned it late .” This great writer , aviator and adventurer strikes me as being the type of woman I wish I was strongly entering the clouds without fear . I don ’ t plunge ahead undaunted on any given day or with any given blank panel presented to me . I see the clouds . But I also have learned that there are ways through . I start . I heat wax and inhale its heady sweetness and start moving . The head clouds clear , ideas form and I try to let the wax lead me . In that way , my past becomes a gift to my present . It ’ s a fine line between impulse and inspiration in my studio .
Boketto , Encaustic , mixed media on panel , 16 x 36 inches , 2014
What started as a statement about my spine took a different view while in a more positive mood - I remembered one of my favorite words . Boketto is a Japanese word for the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking . I was on the edge of moving and it was my last painting in my old studio and it is a looking into the future and being a bit “ glazed over ”.