Kingsgate 1924

James McBey made this watercolour, Kingsgate, on paper at an unknown date. It’s a scene made up of soft washes, and decisive, almost scribbled marks. You can almost feel the breeze coming off the sea. I love the way McBey uses the paper here, so that it’s not just a surface but part of the picture. The paper seems to almost glow through the watery paint. Look at the way the cliffs are built up with these vertical strokes, like he’s letting the cliff face dictate the rhythm of his hand. The strokes are so simple, but they really give you a sense of the texture and the form. Then there’s that almost blank sky - it's just barely-there blue, which somehow feels more expansive than if it were filled with clouds. This reminds me of some of the landscape work of the British artist, John Constable. There’s a similar feeling for the light, and the way that light creates a mood. Ultimately, art is a conversation and there are no fixed meanings, just different ways of seeing and feeling.