Eternity is my homage to the passing of light and time.  Sunset over the Florida Everglades and sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean connect the golden hour to the passage of time. Bodies of water that seem to go on forever reflect light’s story of the turning earth – and another day.

Nature is our sanctuary. I met a lot of people while painting en Plein air. While painting Eternity, I learned that the couple watching the sunrise lost their father the previous night. They hail from Columbia. This special time of day is ripe with reflections. Visual and emotional.

Not surprisingly, there is also a golden hour when we die. That hour during a trauma is when the body stops living. The light changes in the eyes. Light is closely related to time – and life.

My Genius Loci series of en Plein air paintings explore places that move me. The light, the spirit, and the time spent painting in these places are a challenge and a gift. As Georgia O’Keefe says, “It takes time to see.” The greatest challenge of en Plein air painting is the change of light. Nothing is ever the same.

This painting is about the South Florida landscape. The expansive Florida Everglades are the stage for incredible light, weather, and wildlife (human and otherwise.) The peninsula is quite likely the most humanly diverse place in the US. Traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Florida Everglades takes about 30 minutes (depending on the traffic pattern.) Both bodies of water reflect the changing light of the day and night. They reflect time.

The sunrise and sunset are similar to the geography of The Everglades and the Atlantic Ocean. They are the parenthesis of the day – the parenthesis of the land. Both places are a communal meeting place. The light of the golden hours draws people to solace.

I am grateful to experience these places and to paint Eternity.