June 30, 2017
“flight”, 2017, 3′ x 6′, mixed media with japanese paper and ink on canvas
moving slowly southward
aerial view of ocean bodies
tributaries of the nooksack, lummi, skagit and baker
as the crow flies 75 miles ~ 35 minutes of slow motion flight
my eyes mostly closed, headphones, muffling outside but all to aware of inside
moving between fear and a mantra of “you are not meant to go like this”
not asking why but that she must hold on, she must fight for her life.
Soft voice from behind asks, how much longer?
13 more minutes ~
she turns away from the microphone and I hear her say Fuck!
I can barely breathe.
moving so slowly above the vast darkness of puget sound ~
an image comes to me ~ a recent painting unfinished in my studio,
three adolescent girls ~ a repeating figure cradling the lower half of the canvas ~
no this is not an image of death but of rebirth.
Eight stages of the human heart
stretching from left to right ~
the blue sea moving in from all sides ~ rivulets and ocean bodies.
