Fromborg, Poland 1972

Petros Malayan made this watercolor painting, Fromborg, Poland, with a muted palette that feels both somber and kind of cozy, you know? The way he handles the paint, it's like he's letting the water do its thing, creating these soft, dreamy shapes. Check out the boats in the foreground. See how they're not just objects, but they’re almost like characters in a play, each with their own personality, made with watery strokes of grey, brown, and white. They’re sitting on this sandy beach, which isn’t just flat, but alive with texture, made by layers of translucent washes of color. It’s all about the materiality of the paint itself, how it moves and settles, creating depth and atmosphere. Malayan reminds me a bit of Milton Avery, with his knack for simplifying forms and using color to evoke mood. But Malayan has his own thing going on, a unique way of seeing and capturing the world.