Mooring 1971

Joan Mitchell’s painting, Mooring, is a lyrical dance of color and gesture across a canvas. It’s like watching a jazz improvisation, where each stroke responds to the last in a spontaneous flow. The painting is a world of blues, oranges, and blacks, all jostling for space, creating a vibrant tension. Look at how Mitchell uses the white of the canvas, not just as a background, but as an active element, breathing space between the colors. Then, notice those two black blocks, heavy and imposing, but somehow still floating within the composition. I think of artists like Helen Frankenthaler when I look at this painting. Both artists embrace the unpredictable nature of their materials, allowing the paint to stain, drip, and pool in ways that feel both accidental and deliberate. It’s this embrace of process that makes their work so alive and full of possibility, always hinting at the many ways of seeing and experiencing the world.