A silhouetted two-masted sailboat crosses rippling water beneath a bright sun in a vivid orange sky streaked with thin white clouds.

Sails Beneath Fire

MG-0347

2024-03-19

About this piece

A dark sailboat rests low in the composition beneath a brilliant solar disc, while wisps of cloud stretch across the expansive orange sky. A distant strip of land anchors the horizon, and broken reflections carry the light across the foreground water.

The story

I framed the boat low, leaving room for the orange sky and its long, delicate traces of cloud. Above the masts, the sun seemed almost suspended, its bright circle answering the sharp angles of the sails. My eye kept returning to the water, where the same light broke into restless fragments. I wanted to hold that contrast: the clear silhouette of a vessel against a sky that appeared to have no end.

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