Description
Years ago my wife Carol arranged for us to travel down the Oregon Coast for my birthday. As an artist I always have a camera and sketch book with me because I see paintings everywhere I go. In this case everything was there except my ability to paint it successfully. There are images any painter knows he just needs to wait to paint until the combination of skill, experience, and confidence come together. I would frequently run across the photographs I’d taken on that little vacation, but I knew deep down inside I wasn’t ready to paint this painting. Literally after 15 years of looking at the photograph I knew I was ready to have a go at it. As I painted it everything came together beautifully. The title comes from Proverbs 8 in the Bible where God says he “gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command”. It is still one of my favorite paintings and to tell you the truth I’m not sure I could improve on it today.