Aquinnah Sunset

2011

48" X 24"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

A brand new vista for me.

Up until recently,
I had been painting, mostly, the south shore
which was the better traveled path.

I know that this same sun
sets over the entire planet every evening.
And I know that Vineyarders justifiably
lay claim to getting front row seats in Menemsha
for some of the most beautiful examples
of those last blasts of majestic color.

But what I didn’t know
is that when you are
standing on this side of the island
at the end of a long day of drawing and studying it’s edges
and the sun dips below and between the cloudbank
that kept you dodging raindrops all afternoon
and the warm end of the rainbow spectrum lights up
in a shocking neon display…

that…
if you were a sailor
in a ship out on the sea
and saw the tiny little speck of a lighthouse
on the Aquinnah horizon…
it would send out a beacon
strong enough to rival
mother nature’s very best effort…

and safely bring you home.