Iron Cross 1937

Dayton Brown made this watercolor painting of an iron cross. Look closely, and you can see where Brown built the cross, stroke by stroke. See how he created the form, slowly, building it up in stages of layering? The brown watercolour bleeds through the paper, each blotchy shape coming together to define the cross. Brown has this incredible focus and sensitivity. He sees the cross almost as though it’s alive. I wonder, was Brown thinking about folk art, or maybe some earlier form of religious painting? Maybe he was just trying to represent the object in front of him? I love imagining the artist, lost in the throes of his creative process, in conversation with painters from throughout history. Brown is reminding us that painting is an ongoing dialogue between artists, each building on the ideas and techniques of those who came before. Painting lets us be uncertain, and fluid. It's this ambiguity that makes art so compelling, inviting us to bring our own interpretations and experiences to the canvas.