Outskirts of East Gloucester 1918

Childe Hassam built this landscape of East Gloucester with strokes of oil paint, capturing the light filtering through a leafy tree. I can imagine him standing there, brush in hand, wrestling with the scene before him. What's so great about painting is how you’re trying to get the thing down, but you just wind up with paint, glorious gobs of it. Look at how Hassam daubs the green leaves with little jabs of colour, capturing the shimmering light. The paint feels almost dry, dragged across the canvas, creating texture and depth. The whole painting buzzes with energy, like a summer afternoon. You can practically feel the warmth of the sun and hear the distant sounds of the town. Hassam was part of a whole group of painters figuring this out. It’s like they were all talking to each other through their canvases, sharing ideas about how to see and feel the world. Painting's one of those things that keeps evolving through our ongoing conversation.