Midsummer dreaming

When I'm in a bad mood, I turn to beauty to lift my spirits. It's too hot to enjoy being outdoors without being near a large body of water today, so I found art in the coolness of my air conditioning and the comfort of the tank top in which I will not leave the house.

I fell in love with this. It has an attitude of both mischief and refinement, both qualities I admire and want in my life. I picture these women as friends at a large, summer evening party set in some beautifully tailored garden. They're sneaking off for their own adventure with the decorations they lifted to guide them. I see them escaping an all too predictable, if lively, party. I see them heading into the woods to satisfy their own inner wildness.

What form will this wildness take? Will the mid-summer fairies surprise and confound them or will it be just themselves that they discover? Will they be frightened by what they find? The expression on the face of the woman in foreground makes me want to go with them. I want an adventure. I want the fecund possibilities of going off somewhere unknown guided by only the soft glow of my own soft wildness.

I'm past due for a trip with friends, but it's not a realistic possibility now. I'll have to rely on the internal adventure of daydreams. They are a comfort, and I'll never give them up.

Woman with a Japanese Lantern, 1915, oil on canvas, by Lillian Mathilde Genth

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