Naseby 1953

Rita Angus made this painting, *Naseby*, with watercolor on paper. Imagine her, brush in hand, capturing the buildings, fields, and distant hills in strokes of transparent color. It's a dance of light and form, where each wash defines a shape, a shadow, a moment. I wonder what it was like to stand where she stood? Did the colors saturate, or did she heighten them, pushing the hues to sing louder? The architecture is rendered simply, direct and honest, a bit like Lois Dodd, and it also has a touch of Milton Avery's subtle abstraction. Look how she makes the green crawl up the brown hill in repetitive jabs. The artist is gone, but her colors remain. It's like she's still here, whispering to us about the light, the air, and the quiet beauty she found in the everyday. Painting is such a crazy thing, it just keeps going through time and space.