Forfarshire 1928

James McBey made this watercolour painting, Forfarshire, in 1931. It’s all soft washes of translucent colour, pooling and bleeding into one another. You can imagine the artist out there in the landscape, quickly capturing the scene with fluid strokes. The sky dominates the composition; big, billowy clouds rendered in shades of grey, blue and violet seem to move across the paper. I imagine McBey squinting, trying to capture that fleeting moment when the light shifts, transforming the landscape. The land spreads out into fields, trees, a little cottage, and fences, all rendered with a delicate touch. See how the pinks and greens of the fields echo the hues in the sky, creating a sense of harmony and balance. The path in the foreground leads your eye into the distance. It's a simple gesture, but it invites you to wander into the painting and experience the landscape for yourself. Like all painters, McBey is in conversation with past masters like Turner and Constable who also sought to capture the sublime beauty of the natural world. Painting's like that, we're all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world, one brushstroke at a time.