Tibet 1937

Nicholas Roerich painted this landscape of Tibet with thin layers of tempera, building up the subtle violets and yellows. Just look at those mountains in the background. I can imagine him standing there, brush in hand, trying to capture the immensity, the sheer scale of nature. I feel for the artist; it's like wrestling with something that's both beautiful and unknowable. I've been there myself, trying to get it right, scraping back, re-layering. Tempera can be unforgiving, each stroke has to count. But that controlled application, that restraint, it gives the image its sense of calm, of stillness. The buildings sitting quietly, the peaks against the sky. That soft, almost hazy quality reminds me a little bit of Milton Avery, who also knew how to make colour sing, how to simplify forms to get to the heart of a place. It’s all about seeing, feeling, and finding your own way to translate that onto the canvas.