Grey House, from the Beach, Ipswich 1937

Donald Carlisle Greason made this pen and wash drawing, Grey House, from the Beach, Ipswich, sometime around 1937. It’s just so immediate, isn’t it? I think this kind of drawing is about process, the actual doing, of seeing something, and then, like, grabbing it with a pen. The ink kind of floats and blooms around the marks, which is what watercolors tend to do, and the thinness is really beautiful. It's like the drawing is barely there, but it’s so full of information. I love the way the strokes of the pen become shorthand for the dunes, the beach grass, the house. He captures all that with what seems like so little, but that’s the trick, right? Think of an artist like Charles Burchfield, who was also interested in capturing the feeling of a place through expressive line work. Both artists show how the simplest gestures can convey so much. In the end it leaves space for us, the viewers, to fill in the blanks, and imagine.