Quick Frozen Fish, Florida 1959

David Burliuk made this painting in Florida with thick strokes of white, blue, and pink. You can almost feel the sun on your skin, right? I can imagine Burliuk standing there, squinting at the light bouncing off the water, dabbing paint onto the canvas with a kind of joyful energy. Look at how he builds up the clouds, layering pink and white to give them weight and form. See the little strokes of blue dancing across the surface of the water, like light shimmering? Each dab of paint feels like a response, an echo of what he's seeing and feeling. I love how Burliuk wasn't afraid to let his brushstrokes show, each one a little piece of his experience. It reminds me that painting is a conversation, a back-and-forth between the artist, the world, and the materials. And in that conversation, there's always room for surprise, for something unexpected to emerge.