Touching the Water

About this work

Green water at the left, orange sand at the right, and the diagonal band between them the water's edge. At the upper right are two small figures — an adult in green and a child in red — and the child is reaching toward the water. The figures are only a few centimetres tall, yet the painting exists for that hand. No faces, no expressions are given. Even so, the posture of a child touching water for the first time — hesitation and curiosity together — comes across. By setting the figures small within broad fields of colour, it is the landscape that moves over to the side of memory.