The Camel Ride 1935

Konstantin Gorbatov made this watercolour, The Camel Ride, with soft-focus brushstrokes and a warm, sunny palette. I love the way the paint is washed and layered, especially in the clouds. It gives the impression that the painting came together through experimentation, like a dance between control and accident. You can almost feel the brushstrokes, the decisions, and the hesitations that went into making the piece. I imagine Gorbatov squinting into the sun, trying to capture the scene, mixing colors, and remixing them to give it the right mood. Think about the warm sandy tones he uses to capture the essence of the desert landscape. The choice of watercolor makes the scene shimmer, but there are enough dark tones to give it weight. You can almost feel the heat radiating from the sand. It reminds me of other painters, like John Singer Sargent, who used watercolor so freely to catch fleeting moments of light and atmosphere. Painting is a constant conversation, with artists picking up where others left off, and pushing things further.