Metal Eagle c. 1940

Zabelle Missirian made this watercolor painting of a metal eagle. I can imagine her, brush in hand, carefully layering those golden hues. It’s like she’s trying to capture not just the look of metal, but its weight, its history. Maybe she was thinking about power, or freedom. The way the eagle’s wing casts a shadow makes me wonder if she saw this object in a museum. Did she set up an easel in front of it? And the texture! You can almost feel the cool smoothness of the metal, the sharp edges of the feathers. It makes me want to reach out and touch it, to feel the weight of it in my own hands. Painters like Zabelle are in constant conversation with the world, and with each other, trying to make sense of things, one brushstroke at a time. And that’s something worth celebrating.