Daybreakers is perhaps my favorite painting to date. Warm sun-kissed clouds and mist combine to slightly obscure a cool blue sky, which appears abstract and disorganized. The more structured water contains tonal tension between the detailed waves and a more solid plane of color farther back near the horizon. There are a few areas where I applied a thicker paint instead of brightening the color for a highlight, letting the layers of paint build up slight depth in the scene. What gets almost lost in this piece is the amount of pink used in all areas.

But what is this painting about?

Just because you like to watch the sun rise in the east on any given day doesn’t mean that the day is going to provide an unobscured view. You may have to look “through the mist” to find your sunshine. You may have to work hard, make sacrifices, and really search hard to find the beauty of life, which is what the pink represents.

Because there are no guarantees in life, this painting is about a possible lovely life as an optimist versus a probable dreary life as a pessimist. Which one are you?