In the jungle, Florida 1904

Winslow Homer made this watercolor, In the Jungle, Florida, with a light touch, layering washes to build up the scene. It’s so fluid. You can see how the watercolor bleeds and blossoms, creating a sense of humid atmosphere, like the whole scene is breathing. Look how the brushstrokes dance across the surface. Homer's playful with the transparency of the paint, letting the white of the paper shine through in places, which gives the painting an airy lightness. The cool greens and browns of the undergrowth contrast beautifully with the warmer tones of the cougar. See that horizontal branch in the foreground? Homer's built it up with strokes of grey, white and brown, mirroring the cat’s posture higher up in the picture. You might look at John Singer Sargent, a contemporary of Homer's, to see another painter who found freedom in watercolor. Neither of them are trying to impress you. They just get it done. What you see is what you get.