Combination Rush/Candle Holder c. 1939

Leslie Macklem made this watercolor painting, Combination Rush/Candle Holder, at an undetermined time. The painting, with its muted browns and delicate washes, has a quiet, almost melancholic feel. I imagine Macklem, hunched over a desk, carefully rendering this object, maybe lost in thought about simpler times before electricity. Did you ever sit for hours trying to get something just right, lost in the process? I bet Macklem was too! This is the kind of painting where you get a sense of the artist's hand, how patiently they observed the shapes, and the way light falls on the metal. You can almost feel the cool smoothness of it, the weight of history in a humble, everyday thing. It reminds me that painting isn't just about showing something, but about feeling it, exploring it, and then sharing that experience. I feel the urge to connect to the past by making something new.