Centerville, Maine 1951

John Marin made this watercolor drawing, Centerville, Maine, on a sheet of paper probably outdoors, en plein air. Look at the quick, light washes of color, the playful use of line. It feels so immediate, like he was trying to capture a fleeting moment, the feeling of being in that place. I can imagine him standing there, squinting at the landscape, dabbing his brush with blues and greens, trying to pin down the essence of the scene. The blue squiggles at the top, those are clouds, maybe? Or maybe just the idea of clouds, zipping across the sky. The mountains in the background are solid but softened with watercolor, so they blend into the land itself. There’s a lightness here, a spontaneity that reminds me of some of my own work. It’s like Marin is saying, "Here, look at this place, see it with me, but don’t take it too seriously." And in that gesture, he invites us to find our own meaning, to bring our own experiences to the act of seeing.