Anna-Maria Island, Florida 1948

David Burliuk painted 'Anna-Maria Island, Florida' with watercolor on paper, and it's got this wonderfully immediate quality. The way he lets the blues and yellows bleed into each other in the sky, it’s all about the process, like he’s chasing the light as it shifts over the island. The texture is something else too. It's thin washes, right? You can almost feel the grain of the paper underneath. Look at the palm trees, see how each brushstroke is like a little gesture, a quick flick of the wrist. There’s a certain lightness there, a joy in capturing a moment, a place. You could compare him to someone like Marsden Hartley, who also loved capturing the essence of a place with a real directness. Burliuk isn’t trying to nail down every detail. He’s inviting you to feel the breeze, smell the sea, and maybe even hear the rustle of those palm leaves.