A bather rests at the water's edge in loose strokes of golden ochre, a slash of violet sea behind him, most of the paper left bare and glowing

Click the painting to stand closer, close enough to see the paper

Clear Water

Bather, Low Sun

Medium Watercolor on wove paper
Paper 140 lb rough cotton
Size 15¾ × 20⅞ in
Painted 2026

Five minutes of painting after an hour of watching. The whole thing is ochre and violet, the two colors the end of the day actually uses, and more bare paper than paint. This is the loosest painting on this site and the one I would save from a fire. It knows exactly how little it needs.

Placeholder artwork: “Bather, Florida (1917)” by John Singer Sargent, public domain via The Met.