Rocking Chair 1938

Dorothy Handy made this watercolor painting of a rocking chair, and you can almost feel the act of depiction itself, can't you? The way it comes into being with shifts and changes, each line an adjustment. I can really sympathize with her process. What might it have been like to create? I imagine she really wanted to capture its form. Look at the texture she achieves with the subtle changes in tone, and the thin paint layers that let light pass through, almost like a diagram in wood and paper. See how each careful line communicates so much feeling and intention. She's not just copying, she's interpreting. Think about what other artists were doing at the time, inspired by the folk tradition and the beauty of the everyday object. The tradition of painting is like an ongoing conversation, with artists responding to and inspiring each other across time. Painting is an embodied expression, open to multiple readings, shifting with our own changing perspectives.