With my latest Range series, I tend to impress the layers of encaustic with numbers that in some way relate to the mountains such as geographic coordinates or elevation of particular areas in both systems of measure.   I generally leave the interpretation up to the viewer.

Occasionally, I throw in some random numbers that have meaning only to me, but interestingly I’ve found at times the viewer will see numbers that have meaning to them, perhaps similar to the universal tendency to seek meaningful patterns in random data.

In “The Pass” for instance, where I was attempting to convey a remembered experience of the mountains rather than depicting a specific area, its numbers are purposefully obscured & vague. There are a few upright 8s and others are horizontal to depict infinity as a sort of symbol of the grounding I feel in the presence of our majestic coastal mountains.