This third view from Kampung Biya Sapit I painted the deck itself — a small mountainside café strung with fairy lights, a couple already up at the railing with their coffee, a row of empty stools waiting for the next sleepy arrivals. Beyond them the valley was full of cloud, the mountains were folding into peach and lavender, and the sun was doing that slow Borneo thing of taking forever to commit. Working with oils, I let the timber deck flame with reflected pink and red light, almost as if it were holding the sunrise as much as the sky was, and kept the figures small and quiet — they're not the subject, the morning is.
I wanted to capture that particular Sarawak hospitality of a place that gives you a chair, a hot drink, and a sky you'll remember for the rest of your life. Some mornings are simply gifts. This was one of them.