Terra Cotta Pot c. 1936

Cecily Edwards, painted this watercolour of a terracotta pot; that's paint on paper, observing clay, a kind of earth, rendered in pigment derived from the earth! I'm wondering about the feel of making this painting. Did Cecily look at the roundness of that thing, and then attempt to build it back up again on the paper? There's a particular, descriptive intention here in how she's registered each band, that the shape looks a little wonky only adds to the charm. You can almost feel her registering and responding to the particularities of the object right in front of her. There is a deep sense of intimacy in that. This way of rendering is an act of translation— a kind of conversation between the artist, her materials, and the world. In this exchange, new ideas can be made visible and take shape. It is an ongoing, reciprocal exchange across time.