The story of Panabaj immediately brought to mind the interaction of water, land and people. I had a number of decent photographs of beach scenes from the Low Country of South Carolina, and began playing with those to see what might come of it. Above is one of the photos in its original state,  before it got “the Treatment.”

 

I’ve always liked Whistler’s lesser known works, especially his watercolors and pastels. In the ones I like best, he places a mere gesture of a person in a seaside landscape washed to abstraction. Sometimes just sketches or exercises, he often explored japanese influences, and some of these almost improvisational works are especially zen-like.