Summer Breeze at Dinard 1907

Clarence Gagnon gave us this summery scene with oil on canvas, and it feels like a memory of a day at the beach. The brushwork is loose, a bit like the Impressionists but with something else going on. It’s not just about capturing light; there's a real feel for the paint itself. Looking at the figures, they’re built up with quick, confident strokes. The white dresses against the yellow sand – there's a physicality to the color that almost makes you feel the heat. But what really gets me is the dark blue of the sea, a sort of solid backdrop to the scene. It's grounding. Then your eye dances across the light yellow umbrella in the foreground, a real celebration of that sun-drenched moment. Gagnon reminds me a bit of Maurice Prendergast, that same joy in the everyday and that similar understanding that a painting is a world of it's own making, something always shifting in feeling. Art is never truly fixed, which is one of the reasons why I keep painting.