Sketch for Central Otago (Naseby) 1953

Rita Angus made this watercolour, 'Sketch for Central Otago (Naseby)' with thin washes of translucent pigment that let the paper breathe. The painting seems to have emerged slowly, with each layer influencing the next. I can feel Angus responding to the landscape, the ochres, pinks, and blues of the hills and sky. It makes me think about Agnes Martin's work, not so much in appearance but in the sensitivity to place and the way she records it. The paint is so fluid, like she’s trying to capture something fleeting about the scene. Look at the way she renders the land as soft, flowing, and feminine in form. It seems like she's really trying to listen to the place, to tune in, to hear what it has to say to her. Painters are always talking to each other across time and space; each painting is a response to what has come before and an invitation to those who will follow.