Neptune 2

Deep blues fill this canvas like the surface of the sea just after sunset. Catherine de Potter painted "Neptune 2" in 2010, layering midnight and slate tones with soft touches of brown and gold near the top. Nothing here has a firm edge. The colors wash together in cloudy drifts, and tiny pale flecks scatter across the lower half like distant stars or bubbles rising through dark water.

Naming the work after Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, gives us a gentle hint without spelling everything out. De Potter chases a feeling more than a picture, and that openness is the point. Some viewers sense the pull of the ocean floor, others read the same marks as a quiet night sky. Neither reading is wrong. The painting settles into a mood of calm and mystery, offering more of its subtle layers the longer you sit with its shifting shades.