Eardley Jar c. 1938

Clyde L. Cheney’s watercolor, “Eardley Jar,” depicts a humble, cylindrical vessel in shades of brown. You can almost feel him concentrating, trying to capture its essence in diluted pigment. I imagine Cheney carefully layering thin washes, building up the shadows and highlights with subtle gradations. It reminds me of Giorgio Morandi's still lifes. They share an interest in the quiet beauty of everyday objects and their meditation through repetition and subtle variation. See how the marks gently curve over the surface of the jar, suggesting its rounded form. The lines are delicate but confident, each one placed with care and intention. Cheney probably wasn’t trying to make some grand statement. Maybe he was just trying to understand the world around him, one jar at a time. And isn’t that what we’re all trying to do as artists? To make sense of things through the act of looking and painting? I think so.