A Storm Is on the Water Now 1947

Grandma Moses made ‘A Storm Is on the Water Now’ with a sense of directness that makes you think about how experience translates into paint. The colours are simple, almost like folk art building blocks, and the brushstrokes are straightforward, no fancy blending or glazing here. The materiality of this painting is what grabs me. Look at the horses, how their forms are rendered so simply, yet they capture the feeling of movement and energy. The paint looks like it was applied with real intention, like each stroke had a purpose in building up the scene. It’s not about hiding the process, but embracing it. Moses's style reminds me a bit of Henri Rousseau, in that both had a way of rendering landscapes with a flat, almost dreamlike quality, with each element existing in its own right. With Moses, you get the sense that painting wasn’t just about representation, but about memory, storytelling, and the pleasure of making.