Peering Light through Evening Clouds

A sky ablaze with violet, gold, and coral fills most of the frame in Peering Light through Evening Clouds, a 12x16 pastel by Peter Adams, the sun breaking through a low band of cloud just above the horizon. Waves roll toward shore in electric blues and greens, their crests catching stray threads of that same fiery light. Adams pushes pastel's color range to its limit here, letting the sky do nearly all the emotional work while the surf below simply reflects the show happening overhead.