Alexandra 1953

Rita Angus’ watercolor painting, Alexandra, captures a landscape bathed in soft yellows, greens and blues. I can almost see her working en plein air, maybe squinting a little in the bright sun, trying to capture the way the light just bounces off those hills. Those broad washes of color – like the way she’s painted the sky and the water – feel so confident, so free. I wonder what she was thinking about as she laid down each stroke? Was she chasing a feeling, a memory, or just the pure joy of seeing? Angus’s colors remind me of Cezanne. Like him, she used a limited range of hues to evoke depth and volume. See how the green clumps in the foreground push forward and the distant hills fade into a hazy blue? It’s a beautiful reminder that painting isn’t just about copying what you see, it’s about creating a whole new way of seeing. It's about the ongoing conversation that artists have with each other across time, inspiring creativity in a way that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.