Sunset

Saadi Halil, acrylic on canvas 2015

At 14th and Moraga st, you will find yourself at the base of an imposing staircase leading up to Grand View Park

(affectionately nicknamed Turtle Hill, as it drastically domes up like a turtle shell). It is a 140 MILLION year old rock formation that still has fossils and seashells from the time when the very location was under the ocean.

Atop the hill, you get one of the most stunning panoramic views the city has to offer. From the top of the hill as you sweep from left to right, you see the The Pacific Ocean, the Sunset and Richmond neighborhoods, Lands End, the entirety of Golden Gate Park, the Marin Headlands, The Golden Gate Bridge, Berkeley, Oakland, and The Financial District. At sundown you can often see how the Gold Gate Straight pulls in the fog from the ocean to blanket the city.

The painting represents the view looking northwest towards the Ocean, Lands End and the Sunset and Richmond neighborhoods. The style is intended to look like a watercolor painting, evoking the dramatic watercolor sunsets seen from the hilltop. The abstract landscapes that flank Golden Gate Park in the painting leave room to see the colorful grid-like nature of the houses of "The Avenues", as well as the past when it was all rolling sand dunes.