Black Sand

“Sometimes the kindest thing a landscape does is refuse to comfort you.

Volcanic black sand. Moss-covered lava. A sky that has no interest in being pretty. This place does not perform. It simply is — and stands there being itself for as long as you can bear it.

We seek out landscapes that comfort us. But sometimes what we need is a landscape that returns us to scale. That reminds us the small worry occupying the entire inside of our chest is, in this larger frame, just one worry inside one person inside one tiny corner of a much older story.

This painting isn’t asking you to feel at peace.

It’s asking you to feel appropriately small.

What in your life has grown too large in your mind — and could stand to be walked out into a place that refuses to be impressed by it?”