Sketch of Fishing Boats and Sailors 1902

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan sketched these fishing boats and sailors in 1902, using what looks like black ink on paper. The sketch is so immediate, it's like we’re sitting right there with MacLaughlan, watching him capture the scene. See how the lines describing the boats are confident and bold, but then there are these more tentative figures floating around the edges? I love how he’s just trying things out, like a visual brainstorming session. It reminds me of some of the quick studies that artists like Manet or Whistler did, capturing a fleeting moment with incredible efficiency. You can almost feel the sea air and hear the creaking of the boats. It’s not just a picture; it’s an experience. It makes you wonder what the artist was thinking, what caught their eye, and how they translated that into these marks on paper. And that's how artists converse across time and space, inspiring each other.