Sandpit near Provincetown 1937

Donald Greason made this drawing of a sandpit near Provincetown with ink on paper. The marks, like a hasty scribble, remind me that artmaking is really a process of thinking through things. Looking closely, the surface has this incredible quality, with lines that pile up, like soft, sculptural forms. They’re not too precious; they almost feel happenstance. Then there are those longer, swooping lines that carve out the slopes of the sandpit itself. And how the artist used them to bring out the texture of the dunes! It's so simple but it captures the essence of the place. I see echoes of artists like Guston in the directness, and maybe even a touch of the early, raw sketches of Van Gogh. Ultimately, though, it's all Greason, and that's what makes it special. There's no single way to read a drawing, which is just as it should be.