Oil on linen
24 x 24 inches

Derek Macara’s Long Point Storm captures the enduring drama of sea and sky as it collides with the stark geometry of human structures. The composition is anchored by a white lighthouse rising from the dunes, paired with a modest cottage set against a backdrop of towering storm clouds. Painted in sweeping gradations of grey and white, the sky dominates the scene, its monumental forms billowing upward with a sense of imminent power. Below, the churning waters echo the turbulence above, their shifting blues and greys suggesting the uneasy calm before a storm breaks.

Macara balances this atmospheric intensity with the grounding presence of the lighthouse - a symbol of stability and guidance amid uncertainty. The small cottage, humble in scale beside the massive clouds, underscores a sense of human fragility in the face of nature’s vastness. The composition evokes both vulnerability and resilience, situating the viewer within a moment of heightened anticipation.

Like much of Macara’s work, Long Point Storm channels the Romantic tradition, where landscape becomes a meditation on awe and humility before the natural world. The painting’s balance of quiet order and looming chaos reflects the artist’s gift for distilling fleeting weather and light into timeless images of human presence on the edge of immensity.