Alaska Moonrise

We left our anchorage late in the day.  Dinner was being served on our small ship and I had a front row seat to an incredible (and rare) Alaskan sunset.  As the sun descended toward the horizon, the colors became intensely gold, as if someone had layered gold leaf onto the water’s surface.  Through the window across the dining room, I could see the sky and surrounding mountain landscape turning blue with the approaching twilight.  I was overwhelmed with the contrast of these two sides of color, on the two sides of the ship - golden light on one side, blue twilight on the other.  I was halfway through my first course, when I decided I just couldn’t resist it another second!  I excused myself from dinner, grabbed my camera, and sprinted up to the top deck to experience this incredible phenomenon up close. When I reached the top deck and my eyes came upon the scene before me (and not through a window), I felt an immediate surge of aliveness and gratitude.  What an incredible display of nature!  As if that wasn’t enough, just then, a sliver of an orange-yellow moon began to peek out from behind a distant mountain.  As it rose, it became larger and brighter, casting its brilliant light on the surface of the water before me.  I looked over my shoulder to the sunset again, golden celestial sunlight starboard side, then back to the moon, bright yellow celestial moonlight port side.  Two celestial objects passing like ships in the night.  I felt as though I was in a dream.  This is exactly why I paint - to experience and capture these moments of beauty that are fleeting and forever gone…until the next one.