Toleware Bread Tray c. 1941

Mildred Ford painted this Toleware Bread Tray, but it's less about the tray itself, and more about how she renders it, bit by bit, with watercolour. Look at the way the brushstrokes build up the form with soft, transparent layers. This makes me think about process. See how the light catches the rim, that little ping of reflective colour? Ford lets us into her way of seeing. It's not a photorealistic rendering, it’s more like a record of looking, and trying to understand what it is to sit with an everyday object, and really see it. I'm reminded of Morandi and the way he would repaint the same bottles over and over. Both artists find something new in the mundane, and show that repetition and close looking can be a real form of exploration. It’s less about the bread, and more about being with the painting.