Houses of Squam Light, Gloucester 1923

Edward Hopper made this watercolor called 'Houses of Squam Light, Gloucester', sometime in the early teens. Look at how those blues and greens wash and bleed into each other. It's like he's letting the water do half the work, guiding it, not controlling it. Artmaking is often about letting go, right? The thing that really grabs me here is how solid the houses feel, even in a medium as fluid as watercolor. They are placed just off center, somehow both inviting and distant. The brushwork is loose but deliberate, capturing the texture of the weathered wood. See how the light catches the edges of the roofs, and the shadows that suggests quiet, ordinary lives. Reminds me a little of Charles Burchfield, another master of mood in watercolor. But Hopper, he's got that American melancholy thing down. It's not just about what's there, but what's not, or what could be. That's what keeps me looking, keeps me wondering.