Sketch for Central Otago (Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables) 1953

Rita Angus made this watercolour sketch of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables, and you can see how she’s really trying to pin down the light and the way it moves across the scene. It's all about process, about capturing a feeling, a moment. The painting is so light and airy, almost translucent. The way she layers the blues and greens of the water, it feels like you could step right into it. And then there's this lone tree, or maybe just a collection of branches, reaching up, almost like a skeleton against the landscape. See how the leaves are suggested with these quick strokes of yellow and green? It's not about detail, but about capturing the essence of the tree, its energy, its will to live. I’m reminded of some of Cezanne’s landscapes, that same attempt to distill a scene down to its basic forms. Both artists feel like they are having a conversation with nature, rather than trying to dominate it.