Stoneware Jug c. 1938

This is Annie B. Johnston's stoneware jug, painted with what looks like watercolor on paper. It makes me think about the pleasure of observation and the quiet focus needed to render an everyday object with such care. I imagine Johnston, leaning over her table, brush in hand, mixing the right shade of earthy green to capture the jug's mottled surface. It's a dance between eye, hand, and memory, each stroke building upon the last. The texture seems so important, right? The way the glaze drips and pools, creating these rivulets of dark, glossy brown, she had to get it just right. It makes me think about Morandi and his bottles, how something so simple can become a whole world when you really pay attention. It's like Johnston is saying, "Look, even this humble jug has its own beauty, its own story to tell." And maybe that's what painting is all about anyway, isn't it? Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.