Mountainous landscape with budding trees 1993

Edwin Austin Abbey made this watercolor painting, Mountainous Landscape with Budding Trees, and it’s a great example of how watercolor can capture a moment. Look at how the colors just bleed into each other, like a memory fading at the edges. It's not about perfect representation, right? It’s more like a feeling of being in that place. I mean, you can almost smell the damp earth and feel the cool air. I’m drawn to the way Abbey uses the white of the paper to suggest light. See how the light seems to pour down the hillside. You can really see the hand of the artist here, each brushstroke alive with energy. The blossoming trees are like tiny explosions of color, so delicate and fleeting. For me, this piece recalls the work of John Singer Sargent, who was also a master of light and atmosphere. And just like Sargent, Abbey reminds us that art is not about capturing reality, but about creating a world of our own.