Ring Bottle 1936

This “Ring Bottle” was painted by Jessica Price with what looks like watercolor, maybe gouache. There’s something so tender about this painting. I like the earthy brown tones with specks of green and yellow, like the object has aged into the paper, and the marks are soft and subdued, as if she were being careful not to wake it up. It feels like an echo. I wonder if Price was holding this bottle when she painted it, turning it slowly in her hands, tracing the shape with her eyes, and then trying to conjure it on paper. The overall effect is very quiet. It's a still life, but the way she handled the colors and forms, the textures, it’s like she was trying to catch something more than just the object itself, more like a feeling or memory. The bottle itself seems ancient and precious. We are all holding onto something from the past, aren’t we? I am. Are you?