Much like with many of my paintings, there are no humans visible in this piece. To be fair, that’s not much of a stretch here as sunrise on this part of the coast is often a cold and lonely affair. But just because humans aren’t visible, doesn’t mean they aren’t part of these paintings. For me the landscape itself is a very human story, and if you’ve actually read my musings over the years, you may have gathered that just under the surface, my artwork is really exploring, celebrating, and honoring our human connection to these places I paint. The scattered ashes of loved ones, the wedding vows still hanging on the silent air, the reckless abandon of youth, the adrenaline surges of lifethreatening miscalculations regarding the immense power of natural forces… all of these and more are intertwined in our reactions to places that we know. Each of us brings a different set of memories, a different set of connection points to each place I’ve painted.

This painting perhaps more than most celebrates the uniqueness of each of our lives more than any other I’ve done. It does this through metaphor, the gravel on the beach, each of these bodies of rock are different, each unique, each beautiful in its own way, each reminiscent of yet another miracle of life living in these bodies of flesh and bone that we call our own, crafted from the elements of earth itself.

And some, if you look closely, seem to glow with their own light. It’s only the light of the sun passing through them of course, but it is their rare gift of clarity that allows the light to fill them and flow through for all to see. We cherish them and hold them near to our hearts.

And we’ll never forget the morning we found them, nor the night we lost them.