Entrance to the Canal from the Pacific 1912

Joseph Pennell created this lithograph "Entrance to the Canal from the Pacific" with a flurry of marks that activate the surface. You can almost see him working en plein air, squinting against the glare off the water. The pencil strokes are more active in the sky where Pennell captures the density of the clouds. The mountains are built up with a hatching technique, conveying a sense of volume and depth. The lines are sparser on the water which is quite still. This makes me think of other artists like Whistler who used similar printmaking techniques to capture atmospheric effects. I wonder if Pennell felt the same thrill of invention when he made this; the canal itself being a feat of human engineering and his print a record of that endeavour. Artists like Pennell are in conversation with one another and the world, documenting their experience of the landscape and the marks of human intervention.