Sunrise, South China Sea. 30 x 48.

Kipling said it right. The dawn does come up like thunder, but in
this case it comes out of the South China Sea rather than "China
‘cross the Bay." Students of geography have pounded poor Rudyard
about that line, but it would not have worked had he written,
"Indochina." He painted with words, and those of us who use brushes
are often forgiven the same offense.This painting lay fallow eight
years. On the last day of my tour in Vietnam, I walked down to the
beach at Tuy Hoa and watched the dawn in a stormy sky. Any normal
person fears death. In combat, the only thing that makes it bearable
is to become used to your fear, and philosophically to accept your
possible death. This required time and effort. Almost everyone in
active combat achieves this state of mind. Yet, when it is past and
the aspect of life without danger returns, the whole shell vanishes,
and the beauty of awareness and the loveliness of the world bursts
upon you sweet and clear as if you were born again. I felt that on
the beach at Tuy Hoa. When I returned to Indonesia and saw the great
welling tide of this green sea surging beneath the bright sunrise, it
all came back.

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