RISING, SETTING

Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20  IN.

I like sitting outside. I don’t know if it’s an inordinate amount of time compared to others but, as I look back, seems I’ve always been that way. I like long drives in big loops with the windows down, sunroof back and music blaring. So, it doesn’t matter whether I’m sitting in peace or in motion, just as long as I feel the outdoors and soak in the moment. Somewhere along the way, in that open space, I realized that the horizon stretches at sunset. Maybe it’s the light that cascades up into the endless sky, a gasping last breath… maybe it’s the outline of the horizon which backlighting creates, tapering into a whisper… either way, the horizon stretches at sunset.

But, have you seen a brilliant sunrise? It’s soft, rosy. It’s a tender, tumbling prelude like a symphony warming up before a concert. I once saw a sunrise that looked as a serenade. The glow grew as though an overly wet paintbrush had danced across the sky, layered with color upon color bleeding into one another and dripping across the east as far as an eye could follow. The colors faded then hung as striations carved into the sky; for a moment, the earth felt motionless as my feet were rooted to the ground. Then, it was gone. The day had broken through into alarm clocks and lunch plans. That was quite a beginning… left me to ponder.

Sun rising and setting, colors fading and glowing… they’re all both opposites of the same coin aren’t they? The hues are the same. At certain periods, the vibrancies are the same. And then, the days flow into night with clouds drifting, winds sweeping, rain washing, snow blanketing… every beginning has its ending and endings make room for beginnings. In this thread of thought, I’m drawn to Hemingway’s title “The Sun Also Rises”. That actually came from a bible quote it would seem appropriate to share with this piece. From Ecclesiastes 1:5, something to think about and release into: "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose."