Big Flowage 1979

Neil Welliver made this monumental landscape, Big Flowage, sometime in the late 20th century with oil on canvas. The way he's dabbed and dragged the paint around, it's like he's wrestling with the scene, not just copying it. Looking closely, the surface is a battlefield of brushstrokes. Thick, opaque, confident strokes build up the clouds, reflecting down into the water in patches of blues and greys. See how the white paint catches the light, making the clouds feel almost touchable? Down below, those lily pads are like little secrets, little jewels hidden in the depths. There's this one spot, right in the middle, where the blue of the water bleeds into the white of the sky – it's like the whole painting is breathing. Welliver reminds me a little of Fairfield Porter, in his dedication to painting the everyday, the overlooked. But while Porter's interiors feel intimate, Welliver goes big, embracing the wildness. It's a reminder that art isn't about answers, it's about the ongoing conversation, the endless possibilities of paint.