Summer Hotel 1909

William James Glackens made this painting, Summer Hotel, sometime in his career, and it's now in a private collection. Looking at the image, I can almost feel the brush dancing across the canvas, as Glackens lays down these little dabs of blues, greens, and yellows, creating a mosaic of light and shadow. I imagine him standing there, squinting at the scene before him, trying to capture the shimmer of the water, the lazy heat of a summer afternoon. There's something so tactile about the way he handles the paint – thick in some places, thin in others. I can imagine his hand moving, responding to the shapes and colours. Glackens must have been looking at the Impressionists – and I can see how he takes their way of using colour but makes it his own. Painting is always a conversation, right? It is like he's adding his voice to the mix.