Ragged Island, Maine

This aptly named island—a mound of stone, pine, and rocky cliffs in Northeast Casco Bay, just a few miles west of Small Point, Maine—prompted Marin to move away from the literal representation of space. Without differentiating cliff from shoreline, the tipped-up composition provides no perspective, generating a sense of vertigo held in check by a peaceful blue sea. The sea was created by adding excess blue, then tilting the paper, encouraging the wash to pool and dry along the rocks. Marin emphasized the flat patterning of the composition by selecting a wide, flat frame for this work.