Full disclosure: I am not a sailor. In fact, most of my “sail” paintings are not about the boats, but about the sails. This is because of a poem by John O’Donahue called “For A New Beginning.” In it a personification of a ‘new beginning’ is trying to become a reality in a person’s life, and this ‘new beginning’ observes how averse we are to change. 

For a New Beginning

“In out of the way places of the heart, where your thoughts never think to wander, 
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.  
It watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, 
Noticing how you willed yourself on, 
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown….

Then the delight, when your courage kindled, 
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again… 
a path of plentitude opening before you….

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning,
That is one with your life’s desire….
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, 
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”

The line: “Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning” captivated me.  
How could I paint the concept of “unfurling” ourselves into a new beginning? So I concentrated on sails. I wanted to create the sense 
of catching the wind and being taken away into a new future.