The farmyard gum 1936

Hans Heysen painted this watercolour, ‘The Farmyard Gum,’ with delicate washes and earthy colours. I can almost see him, standing there, squinting in the bright sunlight, trying to capture the essence of that massive gum tree. The painting feels so immediate, as if Heysen made it in one go, layering the washes to evoke the play of light and shadow. It reminds me a little bit of the way Cezanne built up form with colour. See how the thin paint creates a sense of transparency? It's like a fleeting moment caught in time. I bet Heysen was totally absorbed, lost in the act of translating what he saw onto paper. Maybe he even felt a bit frustrated when he couldn't quite capture the grandeur of that tree! But that’s painting, right? A constant conversation between what you see, what you feel, and what ends up on the surface. It's not just about the final product but about the journey of seeing and feeling.