Stool c. 1936

Florence Huston made this painting of a stool, we don't know when, but it looks like it was done with gouache, maybe watercolor, on paper. You know, I can almost imagine Florence painting this, trying to get the color just right for the fabric, that dark brown with its little flecks of color. The legs are interesting, too, they kind of swoop down and end in these claw-like feet. I wonder if she was thinking about the furniture itself when she painted it. Maybe she was interested in the curves and shapes, or the way the light hits the surface. I bet she was looking really closely, trying to see every little detail. And that’s kind of what painting is all about, isn’t it? Just trying to capture what you see, as best you can, even when it’s something as simple as a stool. Artists like Florence are always teaching us how to really look at the world.