Field Water Keg c. 1940

John Price made this image of a 'Field Water Keg' sometime in the 20th century, using watercolor. It’s the kind of image that makes you want to touch it. The layers of thin, transparent color give the wood this wonderful depth. You get a real sense of the wood grain and the way the light hits it. I’m really drawn to the bands around the keg: they’re not just flat, but have this almost luminous quality, like the metal has taken on the color of the wood and the field. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter, with its attention to the beauty of everyday objects. There’s a stillness here, but also a sense of time passing, of things aging and changing. It's a quiet celebration of the ordinary, a reminder that even the most humble objects can be beautiful, and that art is really just about seeing.