+++++ What Thomas Kinkade said about this work +++++ "I love lighthouses. The severe, uncompromising life of service lived by lonely lighthouse keepers possesses a special dignity. Poised between the last outcroppings of land and the vast expanse of the ocean, the lighthouse has become a profound symbol of human life, poised as it is between the transitory and the eternal." "I believe that God speaks to His faithful in many voices -- some intended for the ear, some for the eye, all for the heart. As a painter, my role is to interpret and clarify allegorical scenes that are rich with meaning. Clearing Storms is such a symbolic scene, charged with a message of hope that can give us the fortitude to go on. Storms -- dark, brooding, terrifying -- are a part of all our lives. When we're in the grip of a storm, we may feel overwhelmed, powerless, abandoned by God. The meaning of Clearing Storms is that God's love is eternal, and, because of that, the dart times always pass. The power of the waning storm is still evident in the wild, turbulent sea. But up in the sky, God's light has touched the clouds with myriad colors, transforming them into harbingers of hope, and overwhelming man's feeble attempt to light the darkness with the lighthouse. A timid stream, which suggests to me an individual human life, makes its way to the great ocean. A gazebo provides refuge for the lighthouse keeper when storms have passed, where he can contemplate the wonder of it all in one of my favorite ways -- drinking in the warmth from a cup of hot tea." ~~Thomas Kinkade