Wash-stand c. 1937

Edna C. Rex made this small watercolor painting of a wash-stand, sometime between 1855 and 1995. Look at the careful rendering of the wooden stand and the china, it's so delicately observed! I love the artist’s attention to the object, not just as a thing but as a presence. Rex seems to have taken real pleasure in painting the domestic, thinking about what it means to live with and care for things. I can imagine her painting this, again and again, each time seeing something new. Maybe she made many paintings, or maybe just the one, adding layer upon layer of detail. And consider the color palette: the juxtaposition of the brown and wood against the vivid blue and white china. How the painting gives such value to the everyday. What a beautiful conversation between the artist and the world.