Watercolor Painting c. 1939

Cora Parker made this watercolor painting sometime in her long life, and you can see how she really let the watercolour do its thing, embracing that runny, washy quality that's so particular to the medium. Look at how the colours blend softly, creating these delicate blooms and foliage. The whole thing feels kind of dreamlike, doesn't it? The paper itself is a warm, tan colour. And it really peeks through the thin layers of paint. It gives the artwork a kind of cozy, aged quality. Notice especially that central flower. It's a peach-y pink, right? And you can almost feel the wetness of the brushstrokes as they layer up to create the petals. It’s like Parker is showing us the very process of painting itself, not just the flower, but the act of making it. Her work reminds me a little bit of Florine Stettheimer's. Both artists had this way of making art feel intimate and personal, blurring the lines between representation and pure feeling.