Trees c. 1913

John Singer Sargent created "Trees" with watercolour paint, maybe en plein air. I can almost feel him outside in the landscape, squinting in the sun, trying to find the right mix of greens and browns to capture what he sees. The paint looks thin and washy, like he's letting the colors run and blend together on the page. The brushstrokes are so loose, almost like he's scribbling with the paint. I imagine him dabbing at the paper with the brush, capturing the dappled light filtering through the leaves. Look at that white trunk. You can sense his urgency to capture the light before it changed. It is as if he knows that the painting isn’t ever really finished but exists as a record of a moment in time, an ongoing dialogue between what you see, what you feel, and what you can do. That constant creative challenge—we’re all in that conversation.