She Turned Her Back on Me and Went Imperturbably On With Her Sketching 1906

Charles M. Russell painted ‘She Turned Her Back on Me and Went Imperturbably On With Her Sketching’ in 1904, using watercolor, and you can really see that fluidity in the finished work. Look at how the colors blend together, the light blues and browns of the landscape bleeding into each other. It’s not about hard edges here, it’s about capturing a mood, a feeling of vastness and openness. I love how Russell uses the watery quality of the medium to give the landscape a hazy, almost dreamlike quality. The woman’s blue skirt isn’t just blue, it’s a wash of different shades, creating this vibrant, moving field of colour. Then you see the cowboy, kind of left in the lurch, a bit stiff. He looks almost annoyed by her absorption. Maybe Russell is poking fun at the clash between the wild west and the refined world of art. The painting reminds me a little bit of Winslow Homer, another artist who was great at using watercolor to capture the American landscape, but in a very different style. With Russell, it feels more personal, more about storytelling, and less about high art. It's like he's saying, “Here’s a moment, a feeling, make what you will of it.”