Tugboat and Lighter 1905

William James Glackens made this painting of a Tugboat and Lighter with oil paint. It's a scene by the water, a boat perhaps in a harbor, a cold day with the smokestack in action. I wonder if Glackens was standing there on the dock, painting this, or if he did it later from memory. You can almost feel him there, looking with his painter's eye at the way the light hits the water, and trying to capture the grays and blues of the scene. I bet he was trying to put down a memory of a moment. He probably made a mess of it a few times, wiping away, and then built up the paint again, trying to get it just right. I like how he lets the paint do its thing, loose and free, but still managing to give us this feeling of a specific place and time. The way he painted the smokestack is something else, kind of clunky and real. It makes me think about other painters and how they dealt with everyday life. It makes me think about how we keep talking to each other across time, inspiring each other. And how painting can never quite capture life, but maybe that's what makes it so interesting.