Indian River, Florida 1957

Donald Greason made this drawing, Indian River, Florida, in 1957, probably en plein air, from life. The monochrome color palette is kind of delicious, sepia-toned like an old photograph, but it’s also immediate. The marks are so economical, there is not a single line wasted. The trees and the water are evoked through a combination of washes and line drawings. Look closely, and you can see where Greason applied the wash with a broad brush to get the general form of the trees, then he went back in with a finer tool to add the details like the leaves and the ripples in the water. The water in particular is so clever. The reflections are almost more solid and defined than the trees themselves. It’s not exactly a mirror image, but a flattening and distorting of what is above. It reminds me of drawings by Guston. Both artists share a love of reduction and a similar approach to landscape. Like Guston, Greason seems to be concerned with the way we see, and how we can make a drawing say more with less.