Before the Absence

A horizontal harbor scene in opaque paint on canvas, the weave visible through the surface in the sky and water.

The upper quarter holds a pale blue sky with soft white and lavender-tinged clouds, a small white disc at the upper right, and a partial white bird shape cropped by the top edge. A middle band shows a low stone quay running the full width: a beige building at center-left with a small white-framed window and a black cylindrical tank above it, a dark blue staircase rising at center, a tall thin pole with a crossbar behind it, stacked pale crates in white, cream, and turquoise to the right, and at the far right a small structure with a tiled roof and a blue-and-white panelled door. Black circular tire fenders hang along the quay edge. Two boats are moored against it, one blue-and-white at left, one blue with a yellow stripe at center-right.

The lower two-thirds is open water. A boat sits at a slight diagonal in the center foreground, bow to the upper left, hull blue-grey with a yellow band along the gunwale. A large rounded bundle of grey-olive and brown fabric or netting fills its midsection. A pink and mauve cloth patterned with zigzag and stepped motifs drapes over the stern and trails into the water. An orange-yellow rope runs from the bow across the water to the left edge, looping once. A small white buoy floats at left.

The palette is dominated by cerulean, cobalt, turquoise, and pale sky blue with white highlights, set against yellow and orange in the hull stripe and rope, olive and warm grey in the bundle, and beige, cream, and black in the architecture. Color is laid in largely flat opaque areas with crisp edges on the boats and buildings, while the water is built from short repeated horizontal strokes in layered blues with white linear highlights that turn to wavy ribbons of yellow, green, and gold beneath the hull. The clouds are thin and scrubbed, letting canvas texture through. No signature, date, or inscription is visible.