ArtistsNetwork.com 13The certainty of brushwork in the black rocks and
glittering water are the result of years of observation
and experience. Homer knew how light acts upon the
ebb and flow of water, and he was a master at arranging
light and dark patterns into an arresting image.
No less remarkable is the fact that Homer
achieved two distinctly different moods in this
rapid, gestural work: serenity and movement.
Had he spent months refining this canvas in the
studio, it could scarcely have been improved.Homer understood the importance of
simplifying visual information. In this painting,
the ocean is conceived as a flat plane, broken
where a wave hits the shoreline. “My boy,” he
once advised a young artist, “if you want to
make a good sea, use only two waves.”This nearly monochromatic image is
enlivened by changes in color temperature.
Homer painted the moon’s reflections using
white and yellow, creating a relatively warm
effect. The foam in the shaded trough of the
wave is comprised of cool blue tones.