Cigar Store Figure - Blackamoor c. 1938

Dorothy Handy made this watercolor of a ‘Cigar Store Figure - Blackamoor’ sometime during her long life. The colors feel muted, almost as if they've been sitting out in the sun too long. I'm imagining the act of layering the washes, the way the pigment settles into the paper, creating these soft, faded hues of red, green and brown. I wonder what it was like for Dorothy making this. I mean, it's a painting of a sculpture of a person! Did she find the original object beautiful, or was she perhaps interested in the history? The surface is quite matte, which gives it this kind of ghostly feel. I am drawn to the lines around the figure's form, almost like a child's coloring book. Painters look at other painters, and we look at everything else too, riffing off of each other through time. Painting is this ongoing conversation, isn't it? It's all about seeing and feeling your way through, one gesture at a time.