House on the Point 1928

George Luks made this watercolor, *House on the Point*, with what looks like some juicy washes of pigment on paper. It makes me think about how the act of painting allows a scene to come into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I really feel for Luks here, wrestling with the light in the sky, that glowering cloud, and that dark promontory. What was he thinking, sitting there with his watercolor set? It’s kind of amazing how the physical qualities of the painting—the thinness of the paint, the texture of the paper—really shape the experience. Look at the way that ladder just sort of dissolves into the rocks. The gesture of painting here communicates intention, but maybe also a feeling of uncertainty. Painters are constantly in conversation with one another. Each work is part of an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, so that each inspires creativity in a kind of loop. Like all paintings, *House on the Point* embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations rather than fixed meanings.