vade mecum

"memory" cyanotype, march 2010

this is the end of a long day. today marked six months since a dear friend passed away and it has been a day of remembering...and also of trying to look forward. i am now living on the land she spent decades farming and tending, the land which she poured love into on a daily basis. her passing is still difficult to believe, and when all her friends gathered this evening in the glow of the setting sun, united by her spirit, Jane was so present that it seemed to me for a time that if I would only get up and look around the Nanking cherries to the garden side, she would be standing there, listening to us all and smiling that gorgeous loving smile she was known for. i feel her presence often here, but tonight she was almost tangible. this spring i made this print of bird wings, and at the time it seemed very happen-stance, a photo that i took mostly spur of the moment, without an articulable motivation or intent, keeping it and developing it, turning it from silver to cyanotype, because it was "pretty." but now it occurs to me that this is Jane in my thoughts, taking flight and not, all at once. and so, i dedicate this print to her, my loving, beautiful friend, gone far far too soon. here are your wings.