Clock, Antique 1938

Dorothea Farrington made this study of a clock, sometime in the mid-twentieth century, likely with watercolor or colored pencil. Look at how the wooden clock is rendered, the grain of the wood carefully delineated, and the ship at sea represented in the lower portion of the clockface. I imagine Farrington's hand, moving slowly, deliberately, across the page, trying to capture not just the likeness, but also the essence of the object. I’m really drawn to the various versions of clocks included on the page, as if to understand them more fully. It's fascinating to consider how artists look and look, and then look again. Each mark, each choice of color or line weight, is a decision, a negotiation between what is seen and what is felt. You know, artists don't create in a vacuum, we build on what came before. The act of painting, of studying, is a conversation across time.