Central Otago 1969

Rita Angus made this landscape, "Central Otago", with watercolor. It's a riot of tans, browns and greens which feels very much of its place. Looking at the way Angus layers washes of color, one over the other, I get a sense of the land's natural undulations. This isn't just a painting of a place, it's a meditation on the process of seeing. Take a look at the foreground. See the way she renders those bright green rolling hills? It's like she's inviting us to roll around in them! This painting is very flat, but she uses small techniques, like color, to give it depth. It feels like a memory being rendered. Angus reminds me of Marsden Hartley, another artist who found a sense of home in a specific place. Both these artists show us how a place can become a feeling, and how painting can be a way of holding onto that feeling.