Oil on Canvas 24” x 24” x 2” $850.00 USD Available
For some reason, these sketches are drawing me from abstraction toward something marginally more literal. The fields of color are free from naturalistic constraints, yet there are few sailors who have not come upon unexpected shades when the sea’s moods change swiftly. This painting brings to my mind something that J.M.W. Turner said to a critic who told him that he didn’t understand his painting of a shift tossed in a violent storm at sea. Turner replied, “I didn’t paint this for you to understand.” Rather, having been lashed to the mast of a boat in a storm for four hours, Turner wanted to put onto canvas what it was like to be in the wall of a storm, and to be unsure whether survival was possible. If I saw such a sky as this forming, I might choose the Intracoastal Waterway or even a quiet anchorage and a good bar for the day rather than the open water.
For some reason, these sketches are drawing me from abstraction toward something marginally more literal. The fields of color are free from naturalistic constraints, yet there are few sailors who have not come upon unexpected shades when the sea’s moods change swiftly. This painting brings to my mind something that J.M.W. Turner said to a critic who told him that he didn’t understand his painting of a shift tossed in a violent storm at sea. Turner replied, “I didn’t paint this for you to understand.” Rather, having been lashed to the mast of a boat in a storm for four hours, Turner wanted to put onto canvas what it was like to be in the wall of a storm, and to be unsure whether survival was possible. If I saw such a sky as this forming, I might choose the Intracoastal Waterway or even a quiet anchorage and a good bar for the day rather than the open water.