what journey?

Take #1:

Color! So late in October, now in the lower areas around the lake. Totally surpassed by the double rainbow.

For some reason, it brings to mind my trip to Finland, years ago.

I was in my late teens and it was summer. Why not bicycle through northern Finland and northern Norway to see Nordkapp, the northernmost point in Europe?

It was sponsored by the Sierra Club and I was in a group of maybe 12 people.

I could not have imagined the landscape.

We left Rovaniemi in Lapland, and bicycled along a relatively narrow paved highway which soon became dirt as the hills became longer and steeper. Houses became more and more distant from each other in a landscape of tundra. On either side were signs warning in Finnish: DO NOT WANDER OFF HIGHWAY – danger of unexploded bombs! (from WW2).

Along the way, whenever we crossed a river, there was a sauna nearby. Ready to enter – strip – heat up and then jump in the cold cold river. (repeat) That was where we would camp for the night.

At one point we came a juncture where I remember a trading post. There was many Laplanders there, dressed in their native red cuffed and deep blue tops. I had seen photos of them before, but now I was seeing them in real life. And what struck me was how VIBRANT they were.

What the slant of the sun will do for color!

Take #2:

I wanted to see the world and loved bicycling. What did I know about Finland?

I was dropped off at Logan Airport by my mother and my friend (boy, but not lover) Peter. I waved goodbye boarded the plane to FInland. What was my mother doing driving me to Logan? Or was Peter driving and my mother wanted to be along for the company. And then, where did Peter go? He had been visiting me in Sorrento, Maine. But that left a long drive back for my mother alone.

And when I got to Finland, I had my tent but no poles. I was able to buy them in town, but did I have time to do that the day I arrived?

All of us on the bicycle trip made it to Nordkapp which was a total tourist destination – a change after days on the road where only locals were traveling. It was beautiful. But then two of us – me and this other guy (boy but not boyfriend) decided to leave the group. I wonder, what we were thinking?

Back in Helsinki on our own, I saw more that the midnight sun. The city itself and how people relate and how the parks are laid out and how delicious the food was… When my friend departed, I was totally on my own. How would I have met so many FInns if I’d stayed the course?

Take #3:

I started off making my art on the “highway” that everyone rode along. But not right away. I had found batik but I was studying history. I used that as an excuse to travel to Yugoslavia, where I was actually in love with their cloth/embroidery. I went on to teach children filmmaking – again, off a bit from the focussed visual art path.

But then it was onto fine art school: learning the basics of drawing and painting before getting to my silk art which has been my most meaningful medium.

Take #4:

My father had identified 2 sisters (not me) as “the artists”. Why did I take that journey regardless?

Why did some kinds of drawings/line/painting attract me so much more than others?

Why did I first want to fill a wall, then to see through, then play with layers?