I watched this cloud move across the setting sun on my final hike along the head land at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. At the time I was simply struck by its majesty. . . now I am more cognizant of its appetite; how it took out the sun and refused to relinquish it, and all the landscape was thrust into a sobering shadow.

One can accept more readily the shadow born of beauty, it is when the memory of the originating sublimity fades that darkness becomes just that. Then questions arise. And doubts. And we feel for a time what it is to be alone at the edge of something vast and hungry.

If sweeping coastal headlands, herds of wild elk, and the waving grasses of a windswept estuary aren't enough to entice you to the coast this winter, perhaps the opportunity to meet a few artists while touring about the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology will be just the nudge you need.

This coming Monday evening the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology is hosting an open studio event that is free and open to the public. There will be food, drink, and a chance to meet the writers and artists in residence at Sitka this winter. My studio will be open for the duration with a number of completed works and works-in-progress on display. I do hope to see you there!

Learn more about the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology's residents from the 2012/13 winter season.