Castorland, New York 1913

John Marin made this watercolor drawing, Castorland, New York, using strokes and washes of color – pinks, greens, blues, browns – like he was feeling out the landscape. You know? Like the drawing is him, feeling it. I can imagine Marin standing there, squinting at the scene, trying to capture not just what he saw, but how it felt to be there. He’s laying down these loose strokes, almost scribbles, trying to catch the light on the buildings, the way the trees kind of lean into the wind. The paint is thin, transparent, so the paper peeks through, giving it this airy, ephemeral quality. Look at those zigzags in the lower left – they could be anything, shadows, maybe a fence? It’s like he’s letting the painting breathe, leaving room for possibility. Marin was part of a whole crew of artists who were trying to find new ways to see and represent the world. They were all in conversation with each other, pushing the boundaries of what painting could be. And it’s still going on today, this ongoing conversation that we painters have with each other, across time and space. It’s pretty cool to be a part of it.