Silver Ink Stand c. 1936

John Dixon made this watercolor of a silver ink stand sometime between 1740 and 1811. It's all about the flow of the paint here, the way it captures the light, the process, the moment. Dixon lets the watercolor do its thing. It’s not about perfect representation, but about the dance between the silver and the pigment, and the water. Notice the way the light catches the tray, pools of shadow suggesting depth and form. It's like he's saying, "Here's silver, but also, here's paint." That little spot of shadow beneath the tray really gets me. It’s not just a shadow, it's like a little abstract painting in itself, a reminder that even in realism, there's always room for abstraction, for the paint to just be itself. It reminds me of Chardin, that French painter who could make a copper pot sing. Both artists remind us that art isn't about fancy subjects; it's about seeing the world with fresh eyes.