Original Outside Door to Sacristy c. 1936

Geoffrey Holt made this image of the Original Outside Door to Sacristy with some kind of pen, ink, and watercolor. The door’s made of vertical planks, and Holt captured all the wood grain. It's like he was just lost in the details, letting the pen and ink flow. The way the watercolor stain gives the wood that aged look makes me think about the physicality of painting. Holt lets the texture speak for itself with those light touches of brown and grey. I can almost smell the wood from here. Look at the way he’s drawn the nails, like tiny dark accents. It’s this little bit of darkness that makes the whole door pop! It reminds me of drawings by Alfred Rethel with that kind of attention to detail. But Holt’s got this humble, almost playful way of looking at the most ordinary things that I think really sets him apart. It reminds us that art is everywhere, if we just open our eyes.