Les Plans sur Bex, a barn with tractor 2003

Hubertine Heijermans made this watercolor painting of a barn with a tractor in Les Plans sur Bex. I see a softness and a lightness in this work, where transparent washes allow the white of the paper to glow through. It feels like a sunny, snowy day and she’s painting fast, trying to capture a transient moment. Look how she’s let the colors bleed and blend into each other. I’m thinking about how Heijermans might have approached the work, standing there with her watercolors and brushes, making choices about what to include and what to leave out, what to emphasize and what to suggest. The tractor looks pretty solid, so that would have been important to her. It’s like she’s saying, “This is what’s here; this is what I see.” Ultimately, painting isn’t just about representing a scene, it’s about sharing a way of seeing and feeling, isn't it? It’s about the artist’s presence in the world and the way that presence gets translated onto paper through color, line, and form.