Untitled [Walking Rains] c. 1937

Edward Laning made this black and white landscape, with the suggested title, Walking Rains, sometime in his life, though we are not sure exactly when. It looks like he was standing outside, maybe in the desert, watching a storm roll in. See the rain actually walking? I love how Laning describes the landscape with so many tiny lines. He's really thinking about how to describe every little bump and bush. It almost feels like he's caressing the land with his pencil. I wonder if he was feeling the same way, too, like he wanted to get to know this place really well. There's a real intimacy here. He's showing us something he knows and loves. It reminds me of some of my own works, where I'm just trying to get something down that I can see and feel really strongly. I think, like Laning, we all contribute to the ongoing creative conversation.