Glimpse of the Sea, Long Island 1906

Robert Julian Onderdonk made "Glimpse of the Sea, Long Island" with oil on canvas. I imagine him working outside, trying to capture how light hits the landscape. The ochre and brown hues evoke a palpable feeling of being on the East Coast in Autumn. You can almost feel the breeze, right? The brushwork is loose, almost impressionistic. I bet Onderdonk was trying to capture the fleeting moments of light and shadow, squinting to see how colors shift. That sailboat on the horizon; maybe he saw it bobbing on the water and thought, "Yes, that's it! That's the feeling I want to convey." The rugged texture of the landscape, built up in layers, gives it a raw, honest quality. It reminds me of those plein air painters who were all about capturing the immediate experience of being in nature. Painting is a form of embodied expression; it embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings.