Whistler (July)

James Whistler’s applications of dark-blue supply a night vision where sky is only slightly blacker than the marina waters. Thin streaks of white are lights reflected in water. When our eyes adjust some of those emergent shapes must be boats at dock. The single indistinct dot of red, we realise in time, is the light atop a Bolte Bridge pillar. That row of what could be dull little pearls must be cars on its long trajectory. Japanese influence is strong during this period. There’s a sense of everything hanging in space, even the new multi-storeys, ghostly in the July night.