Downeast Morning 

Dan Graziano made this painting, Downeast Morning, with brushes, canvas, and oil paint. The tradition goes back centuries, with skilled makers preparing the canvases and grinding pigments into oil. But there’s also the labor of the painter, capturing a fleeting moment of light. Here, the thick facture of the strokes is as important as the image itself. The artist isn't trying to fool us into thinking this is a photograph. Instead, the paint is laid on expressively, even messily. Graziano has clearly chosen not to blend and finesse in the academic style. The title is a clue. "Downeast" refers to the coast of Maine. This is a working waterfront. The boat isn't sleek or luxurious but functional, used by people who make their living from the sea. What’s remarkable is how the tradition of landscape painting has endured. But it has also been reinvented. The emphasis on materials, labor, and local context reminds us that art is always rooted in place and time, connected to wider social issues.