Trastero (chest) c. 1939

Margery Parish made this artwork, called 'Trastero,' with watercolour. Imagine Parish, brush in hand, delicately layering the colours of the wood. She's captured the honest beauty of this everyday object. I wonder what she was thinking as she worked, maybe about her own furniture, or the stories a chest like this could hold. The texture in the woodgrain, the subtle shading, it's all so carefully observed. There’s a naive charm to the decorative elements at the top. The little flower in the middle with the curvy tendrils framing it... it's like a painterly hug. I’m reminded of other artists who find inspiration in folk art. Artists are always in conversation, you know? We borrow, we steal, we transform. And even in something as simple as a painted chest, there’s room for endless interpretation, endless possibility.