Pulpit - San Buenaventura Mission 1935 - 1942

This watercolor drawing captures the pulpit at the San Buenaventura Mission, and was made by Dayton Brown in 1932. I imagine him there, carefully noting the details of the carved wood, the faded colours, and the way the light hits those ornate floral decorations. There's a real tenderness in the way he's rendered this object. It's not just a record; it’s as if he's trying to understand the hands that made it, the stories it has silently witnessed. The blue and reddish hues create an atmosphere of serene contemplation. You can almost smell the wood and the dust of history. Painters are always in dialogue, aren't they? Brown’s watercolour technique reminds me of other artists like John Singer Sargent, who also used watercolour to capture light and atmosphere. Each brushstroke feels like a question, an attempt to uncover something deeper, both about the object and the artist's own place in the world. It reminds us that every artwork, even a drawing, is part of a larger, ongoing conversation.