Plate Treen 1938

Wellington Blewett made this drawing of 'Plate Treen' sometime between 1870 and 1920, and I love how he's used a simple palette to explore form and texture. It's all about the process, isn't it? The rendering of the plate is so delicate, almost ethereal. You can see the subtle variations in tone that suggest the play of light on the wooden surface. I’m drawn to the rim of the plate. Blewett’s scalloped edge is so simple, yet so effective in giving the plate a sense of depth. It reminds me a bit of some of Giorgio Morandi's still lifes, that same focus on quiet, everyday objects. But where Morandi uses paint to build up layers of texture, Blewett uses the transparency of his medium to create a sense of lightness. Ultimately art is a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas. And like any good conversation, it's full of surprises, ambiguities, and multiple interpretations.