Dawn - Portland Harbor 1915

Philip Little made this etching called *Dawn - Portland Harbor* using black ink on paper. The whole scene is made up of tiny scratches and lines, like a million little thoughts all going in the same direction. Looking closely, you can see how Little used different densities of lines to create shade and depth, like on the side of the large building on the right, and also the dark reflections in the water. It's a patient, almost meditative process, and you can feel that in the stillness of the harbor. This etching reminds me of the work of Whistler, who also captured these quiet, everyday scenes with such sensitivity. But where Whistler might have aimed for a kind of refined elegance, Little's work feels a bit more raw, a bit more immediate. It’s this embrace of the imperfect, the unfinished, that makes the piece so engaging. In the end, the conversation between artists is what matters.