Pottery Jug c. 1938

Al Curry made this watercolor Pottery Jug at some point in his lifetime, but the exact date is a mystery. What's not a mystery is how the dark and light shades of brown were worked and blended together in a very soft and subtle way. If you look closely at the jug's surface, you can see the brushstrokes are thin, transparent, and almost hidden. It's like Curry wanted to capture the jug's essence, not just its appearance. The smooth surface he created is especially compelling. It shows an incredible amount of patience. It almost reminds me of Giorgio Morandi's still life paintings of bottles and jars, where the focus is on simple shapes and subtle variations of color. Both artists, in their own way, encourage us to slow down and appreciate the beauty in the everyday objects that surround us. And in the end, art invites us to see the world with fresh eyes, embracing the ambiguity and possibilities that lie within it.