Girl's Dress c. 1937

Verna Tallman made this watercolor of a girl’s dress; a light, floral thing. You can almost see the brushstrokes and feel the artist's hand as she built it up, dot by dot, line by line. I like to imagine Verna at work, maybe with the dress itself nearby, considering how to capture its essence. The way the light catches on the fabric, the gentle sway of the skirt – it’s all about feeling, isn’t it? It’s like she’s not just painting a dress, she's painting a memory of childhood. There's something so tender in those little red flowers against the white. You think about other artists, like Fairfield Porter maybe, who found beauty in the everyday. Here, Verna offers a quiet moment, an intimate glimpse into a world seen through a painter’s eyes. We build on each other's work like that; it’s a kind of conversation, a back-and-forth across time.