Pa. German Hildebrandt Mug c. 1939

Thomas Watts made this watercolor painting of a Pennsylvania German Hildebrandt mug, but we don’t know when. I like to imagine Watts making this; the colors are mostly muted, and the lines waver like the hand of someone carefully drawing a still object, trying to be accurate. There’s something so loving about this rendering: the way the blues seep softly behind the mug's figures, the careful, gentle strokes outlining the sun and the stylized figure of a woman holding what looks like a musical instrument. The terra cotta color palette is gentle. It feels like Watts is tenderly preserving an object from the past. It makes me think about folk art, and the kind of transmission of information it entails—a visual language passed down from generation to generation, each artist putting their own spin on it. Watts is engaging in that conversation, adding his voice to the mix, and it reminds me that we're all connected through art, constantly influencing and inspiring one another.