Prayer Time

A long boat crossing a river at first light, figures waiting on a jetty with a ceremonial umbrella and flag. Original acrylic on canvas, signed, framed and ready to hang.

The canvas is divided down the middle by a single decision: everything on the left is fire, everything on the right is green.

On the left, a river holding the first light of the day. The water is worked in short thick strokes of orange, amber and pale gold, so the reflection breaks up the way real water does at dawn, before any wind has reached it. A low sun is just clearing the horizon beside a small hut and a single dark tree. In the foreground, a long wooden boat cuts across the whole width of the painting, carrying a handful of figures — a boatman standing at the prow in white, and passengers seated along its length in blue, orange and red.

On the right, a wall of dense forest in strong greens, then a wooden jetty running out over the bank. Four figures stand on it: one carrying a yellow bundle on the head, one in a magenta skirt, one holding a ceremonial parasol in yellow and red, and one beside a tall crimson flag on a pole. They are waiting for the boat, and the flag and umbrella say where they are going.

This is the hour before the day properly begins. The boat is going out, not coming back. People are heading to the water for morning prayer, and the whole painting has the particular stillness of early light — no wind, no noise, nothing hurried.

The paint is applied thickly and directly, with the knife and brush marks left visible throughout. Nothing is blended smooth. The colour is unapologetic — saturated oranges against saturated greens, with no mid-tones asked to mediate between them.

The format is long and low, which suits both the river and the wall it will hang on. Above a sideboard, along a corridor, behind a reception desk, or across the back wall of a dining room.

A warm, hopeful painting for a room where people gather, and a natural choice for a wall you walk past first thing in the morning.

Original acrylic on canvas, signed by the artist. Supplied framed and ready to hang with a certificate of authenticity. One of a kind — no reproductions of this work are sold.

Specifications:

• Subject: River crossing at sunrise
• Medium: Acrylic on canvas
• Type: Original, one of a kind
• Size: 96 x 24 in
• Orientation: Square
• Framing:  Framed, ready to hang
• Signed: Yes, by the artist
• Included: Certificate of authenticity