Ontwerp voor een glas in loodraam met putto in een cartouche after 1907

This is an anonymous design for a stained glass window, rendered in delicate watercolor. I love to imagine the anonymous artist conjuring it into being, shifting and emerging through intuition. I feel for this artist, figuring out how to combine classical motifs with more playful elements. The cherubic figures, framed in decorative borders, are rendered on square panels. What might they have been thinking when they made it? I imagine them considering the material aspects of painting, like the texture, color, surface, and physicality of the medium. Look at those stylized flowers – each gesture communicates a sense of intention and meaning. It relates to other painters throughout history, each inspiring the other’s creativity. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time. Painting is an embodied expression, embracing ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning.