The Golden Lean

About this piece

A palm trunk curves upward from the right edge, opening into a canopy of fronds above blue-green water and a low, wooded horizon. Warm sunlight illuminates the textured bark and turns the leaflets gold against the blue and clouded sky. The sweeping foreground form contrasts with distant boats and the level shoreline, lending the scene both energy and spaciousness.

The story

November light rests warmly on the palm’s bent trunk, tracing its rough surface all the way to the crown. Overhead, narrow leaflets divide the sky into strips of gold and blue. Below, small ripples break the water into shifting patches of brightness. A distant sailboat sits beneath the low green horizon, its slender mast almost lost in the expanse.