Roxy - Capturing the Light on Sky Pond - a Voyage of Self Discovery

Below is the opening of my memoir to be used in my photo book. The sentences in bold were just my way of tracking editing. Please ignore.

—————

Creativity is a form of self-expression that enables us to engage in conversations with ourselves about our interests and desires. This story explores how I integrated creativity into my sailing life as a way to better understand myself, discover who I could become, and gain insight into my place in the world around me.

Like most people of my generation, I was encouraged to strive for a lifelong career, starting with an entry-level job that had the potential for growth within the same company. So, I did the practical thing and built a financially stable career which led to early retirement and sailing about the world with my husband.

However, my true passion as a teenager was to be an artist. Creating art was my calling—it was what I was meant to do. As a child, every season evoked colors and sensations that captivated me like the cobalt blue of the sky as seen through the bright green boughs of a madronna tree seen above me as I lay in our field in the heat of summer or the sparkles of dew on fresh pink apple blossoms in spring. But pursuing an art degree was a dream that my parents discouraged. We were the typical 1950s family. My father was an electrician and my mother was a wonderful homemaker to four kids. They were the product of The Great Depression, WWII and, at that time, the baby boom and wanted their children to be the first of their families to earn college degrees while pursuing the American dream.

I didn’t feel called to be a business person or a sailor. We don’t choose our callings; they are undeniable and intrinsic. Even as I built my career, my mind was constantly painting the scenes around me.

It wasn’t until my retirement, when my husband Carl and I embarked on an epic adventure of living aboard our sailboat, Sky pond, that I finally succeeded as an artist. It was a surprising combination of experiences: a lifestyle characterized by isolation and confinement, challenging ocean passages, and uncomfortable anchorages. During this time, I learned to master watercolors, using them to express my interpretation of the iconic marine destinations we explored throughout the Pacific Ocean.

While in high school, I became captivated by a watercolor painting depicting the low clouds, bays, and peninsulas of my home in the Pacific Northwest. The colors, temperature, light, and mood of my surroundings consumed me and inspired me to explore the fluid medium of watercolors. On weekends, I regularly visited galleries and spent hours in our local library, immersing myself in various painterly techniques. I found joy in poring over art history books, their glossy pages spread around me in a mosaic of masterpieces. Iconic artists like Monet, Renoir, and Rembrandt inspired me from the past, while contemporary artists fueled my passion in the present.

However, as my college years progressed and my career took shape, my passion for painting was set aside. As retirement approached, Carl and I began preparing to become skilled bluewater sailors and to live aboard a sailboat full-time. This was his plan since an early age and had cautioned me that it was not optional when we decided to marry. While I thrived on the unique experiences that would come our way, I never pictured myself as a sailor. Nonetheless, I committed to a long-term goal of sailing around the world over the next ten years, hoping to eventually embrace the thrill of the wind in my hair.

We built our lives around selling our belongings and taking delivery of our Seawind Catamaran in Vietnam in February 2016.

When the day finally arrived, we flew into Ho Chi Minh City with boxes of boat spares, a water maker, and tools to outfit our new boat, Sky Pond—leaving us with barely any space or weight allowance for personal items, let alone art supplies. It was hard to imagine how learning to sail in open waters and living on the ocean would provide the opportunity to achieve my lifelong dream of becoming an accomplished artist.