Heck, the subject matter of those paintings may not even be the point. He may have just been exploring how to paint different types of water.
My grandmother went on a kick of painting all sorts of objects in melting blocks of ice for a while. She was a very fine still life artist but she painted for herself trying to perfect the capture of mundane details of light and water. Her subject choices were chose by the challenge they presented, didn’t have anything to do with the subject itself.
And while she was painting, the outside world was on hold.
That's why I paint. When I lost my second wife to mental illness, painting was my solace and relief from grief.
I'm glad to know he paints.
/johnny