Colonial Wash Stand c. 1937

Florence Truelson made this watercolor of a Colonial Wash Stand, and it's really interesting how she’s focused on the wood grain, on that lovely swirling pattern, like she’s trying to capture the *essence* of wood. There’s something kind of awkward, even comical, about her rendering, maybe in the slightly clunky way she paints the shape of the object itself. But that's what gives it its charm! It's like she's letting the paint itself be the wood. I love the contrast between the red-browns and the unexpected bright green, too. That green feels so wrong, but it’s so right. It reminds me of some of the folk art I’ve seen, where the artists aren’t afraid to just go for it, you know? Like they’re not trying to be perfect, they’re just trying to capture something real. You can see the hand of the artist and that makes it feel, well, human.