Cedar Piggin c. 1938

Annie B. Johnston made this watercolour and graphite work, ‘Cedar Piggin’, and I find the tonal work really lovely. It’s a painting of a thing, like Morandi, but it’s also a painting *about* painting, you know? The grain of the wood is so carefully rendered, it's like she's mapping the object. It's a kind of portrait, but of a bucket. Look at the handle, how it rises up, solid, but still a little wobbly in its form. It’s this slight asymmetry that makes it feel so alive. The colour palette is earthy and subdued, mostly browns and tans, but there's this subtle play of light and shadow. The painting is really a meditation on the beauty of simple forms and everyday objects. It reminds me a bit of Fairfield Porter, that same interest in the domestic and the ordinary. But Johnston brings something else, a kind of quiet reverence for the handmade. It’s all about the pleasure of looking closely and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.