Pa. German Butter Mold c. 1939

Franklyn Syres made this drawing of a Pennsylvania German butter mold with what looks like watercolor. I love how the flower is formed, as if the artist is carving directly into the surface. Can you see the gouges and scrapes he made? He probably used a blade of some kind. I wonder what kind of wood it was? Maybe he was thinking about how light will catch and reflect. I see Syres there in his studio, figuring out how to translate the three dimensions of the butter mold into two dimensions. Maybe he was thinking about Georgia O’Keefe and how she found ways to make flowers seem so huge, monumental. Or maybe not! Whatever it was, I know that artists are always in conversation with one another. They keep creativity alive!