Rockingham Pitcher c. 1939

Eleanor Gausser made this Rockingham Pitcher painting, with watercolours. I see the layering of browns and creams, the gentle way the colours bleed into each other, and I imagine the artist carefully building up the image, one delicate wash at a time. She’s working slowly, responding to the form, letting it emerge. I feel like I’m in the room with her, watching her mix the paints, testing the colours, patiently coaxing the pitcher into being. The anchor and chain motif gives a sense of weight, but they also create an interesting play of light and shadow. The way Gausser has rendered them, they feel both solid and ephemeral, like a memory or a dream. It’s a reminder that painting is not just about representation, but also about feeling, thinking, and experiencing the world in new ways. Painting is a form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty and allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed or definitive readings.