Whale Oil Peg Lamp and Stand c. 1940

Neva Coffey made this drawing of a Whale Oil Peg Lamp and Stand, and you can tell she really looked hard at it. The image seems straightforward, but it's also full of nuance. I bet she squinted a lot. There's a precision to the rendering that makes me think about the labor involved. How many times did she have to sharpen her pencil to get that kind of detail? What was she thinking about as she patiently built up the form with her marks? I can imagine her wanting to capture not just what the lamp looked like, but also the way it felt – its weight, its texture, its history. You know, the way light would’ve played across its surface. Drawing like this is about more than just representation; it's about connection, and seeing how the artist’s hand can capture light and form. It reminds us of the power of observation and the subtle beauty in the everyday objects we often overlook.