Laguna Cove 1935

Paul Landacre made this print, Laguna Cove, and you can tell he loved to make marks, build form, and add texture with line. It's all about the pleasure of process, isn't it? Look at how the light hits the sea, it’s not just a flat wash of tone, but built up with myriad tiny strokes. The clouds have that feeling too, like he’s teasing out their shape. This adds a tactile quality to the piece. It’s almost like you could reach out and feel the texture of the sky. Landacre’s not hiding his process. He invites you to see how the image emerges, mark by mark. His is an art of accumulation, and this reminds me of the later work of Philip Guston, also a master of the suggestive mark. Like Guston, Landacre shows us that art isn’t about capturing a perfect image, but about the joy of making, thinking, and seeing.