Wood Carving - Scroll c. 1939

Here's Clayton Clements' watercolor painting, Wood Carving - Scroll. It's all soft curves and quiet color. You can feel the weight of the gouges into the original wood block and imagine Clements’ looking at the original scroll, thinking, "How do I capture this thing?" What does it feel like to hold it, to look at it, to recreate it? The watercolor is translucent in places, and thick in others, mimicking the deep grooves of the carved wood. See how the artist has really captured the texture; you can almost feel the splintered grain. It reminds me of the work of other painter-observers like Dürer, who looked closely at the world to understand it better. The history of art is just one long conversation between artists who are listening closely, and answering back! This painting makes me want to pick up my own brushes and join in.