Monhegan (study) 1922

Nicholas Roerich made this study of Monhegan, an island off the coast of Maine, with a pencil, maybe on location. The island looks barren, rugged, and massive. I can imagine him out there with his sketchbook, feeling the wind and the spray of the ocean. You know? Sketching is a way of making contact, a way of thinking through your hand and your eye, trying to capture the essence of a place. His lines aren't precise or fussy; they're more about feeling the weight of the rocks, the vastness of the sky. Roerich was on Monhegan Island in the early 1920s. It was a time when a lot of artists were drawn to the island's wild, untamed beauty. I can feel him responding to those jagged lines, like a kind of visual shorthand for the island's rough, geological character. It's just a study, but it holds a whole world in its simplicity. In the same way, painting can be an invitation to slow down, to look closely, and to feel the world in a new way.