Llyn Idwal 1908

Edward Theodore Compton painted Llyn Idwal in watercolour, and right away you can see that the colour palette is very earthy. Looking at the way he makes the marks, it feels like artmaking as a process, right? The texture, the colour, the surface - it all feels so physical. The paint is thin, it's transparent in places, and in others opaque. You can almost see the brushstrokes in the way he's built up the rocks, that little patch of green suggesting moss, and how the light catches the tops of the mountains. Look at how the colours blend together, the way he suggests the depth and the distance - it's not just about what you see, but about how you feel when you're there. Compton's work reminds me a little of John Singer Sargent, who also was interested in the materiality of paint. What I find so fascinating about art is its ambiguity and that it embraces so many interpretations.