Weather Vane 1935 - 1942

Here we have an image of a weather vane. The image, painted in an even, light wash, captures the object’s smooth, reflective surface. The artist is anonymous, which makes me think, who were they? I like to imagine the painting came about through trial and error and a lot of intuition. Maybe they were thinking of a particular place or town when they made it? The surface of this painting looks incredibly smooth, so smooth you could almost ice skate on it. The artist must have applied the washes so thinly, building up the colour gradually. The rooster’s tail feathers are particularly interesting, the pale paint leaving gaps that create a sense of light and shadow, as if we can see the sky through the metal. Artists like this anonymous one teach me that painting is a conversation across time. We are all in dialogue with one another, building on the ideas of those who came before us, offering our perspectives. Painting is about embodied expression, and embracing ambiguity.