The radically stylized tendencies in Rock at Sea were motivated by Jonson’s earlier work as an avant-garde scenic and lighting designer for the esteemed Chicago Little Theatre. Inspired by the jagged coast of Ogunquit, Maine, the painting’s visionary rendering of nature embodies the artist’s long-standing interest in communicating mystical concepts. Later, Jonson would move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and co-found the Transcendental Painting Group, an association of artists dedicated to expressing the imaginative and spiritual realms through abstract art.