Behold the Beauty: ‘Morning Over the Gulf’

"Morning Over the Gulf," 2018, by David Jenks. Oil on canvas; 36 inches by 56 inches. Recipient of an honorable mention in the landscape category at the “14th International ARC Salon (2019–2020).” (ARC)

There’s nothing quite like being up in the clouds.

In June or July, California-based artist David Jenks often flies to Florida’s Gulf Coast to catch the warm monsoon, which brings the most dramatic scenes for his paintings. “Rain showers and rain clouds arrive from all directions, creating spectacular displays,” Jenks said in his artist video statement in the catalog for the “14th International Virtual ARC Salon Exhibition (2019–2020).”

"Morning Over the Gulf," 2018, by David Jenks. Oil on canvas; 36 inches by 56 inches. Recipient of an honorable mention in the landscape category at the “14th International ARC Salon (2019–2020).” (ARC)

Even though Jenks has painted the sea and sky endless times, the scene in his painting “Morning Over the Gulf” is a first for him. Jenks painted the sky and ocean as seen from the plane on his way home from one of his Florida trips. The painting won him an honorable mention in the landscape category of the competition held by the Art Renewal Center.

When he depicts the sea, the paintings essentially “become studies in light itself as it’s filtered, bounded, and reflected by atmosphere and water,” he says. Jenks painted “Morning Over the Gulf” on a large canvas to “convey the grandeur and complexity of the view.”

At the end of his statement, Jenks quotes Victor Hugo in “Les Misérables,” almost as a gift for us to ponder: “There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.”

To see David Jenks’s painting alongside the work of 98 other international realist artists, visit the “14th International Virtual ARC Salon Exhibition” on the ARC website through July 31, and click on the exhibition banner at ArtRenewal.org