Sweet Summer 1912

John William Waterhouse painted this oil on canvas, Sweet Summer, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, and I find myself thinking about painting as a process. It’s not just about rendering an image, it’s about the act of making. Look at the way Waterhouse built up the layers of paint. He worked thin layers on top of each other, so you can see how the colors blend and create a sense of depth. Take the way he painted the woman’s dress – it’s like he was building up layer after layer of thin glaze, so the fabric has this soft, luminous quality. The paint isn’t trying to hide. The way Waterhouse depicts light is so interesting, I think he must have been looking at what Monet was doing. But this piece feels totally different, he’s not working in the same way, and that’s something I find really exciting. It is like an ongoing conversation, I wonder what each of them would have thought about each other's approach. Ultimately, this painting is about embracing ambiguity. There’s no one right way to interpret it, which is great.