Hoosic Mountain, Massachusetts 1918

John Marin made this watercolour of Hoosic Mountain in Massachusetts with paper and brush, and probably a glass of water! I love to look at watercolours: you see the marks so clearly. The artist is kind of struggling with how to see, not making a perfect representation, but using those watery marks to show how things feel. I can imagine him dabbing at the paper, trying to capture the way the light hits the trees and the mountain. There is a sense of immediacy: of the moment. I like how Marin's use of blues and greens captures the lushness of the landscape, but it's not just about the colors, it is about the surface. The way the paint sits on the paper gives it an emotional depth. The colours speak to one another, bouncing off each other and creating a sense of vibrancy and life. It reminds me of Cezanne, or even Marsden Hartley, who had a similar approach of trying to capture nature in a really visceral way. In the end, it’s all about that ongoing conversation, seeing how other painters have tackled the same problems, and trying to find your own way of expressing it.