Bishop Hill: Copper Skillet c. 1938

Bisby Finley made this copper skillet with paint on paper. I bet he spent ages slowly building up the colour and form. Looking at how Finley has painted this copper skillet, I can imagine him, brush in hand, carefully trying to capture the object's likeness. And I wonder, what was he thinking about while painting? He probably thought about surface quality a lot. It's all about the texture! I bet it was difficult, as he mixed his paints to get the colour just right. The copper has that beautiful warm glow, doesn’t it? And that long handle, reaching out like an arm. Finley must have been working hard trying to figure out how to translate three dimensions onto a flat surface. It’s like he was trying to hold onto something real, a tangible memory, maybe. Painters today and back then, we're all in this ongoing conversation, constantly exchanging ideas. It's a form of embodied expression, isn't it? It embraces the ambiguity and uncertainty of life. We are just trying to figure out how it feels!