Red Wooden Cross used as Headstone c. 1937

Majel G. Claflin made this artwork of a red wooden cross, maybe in the 1930s, using what looks like watercolor or gouache on paper. It's got this handcrafted feel, right? Like something found, not made, emerging through layering and building of colour and texture. I'm thinking about Majel in front of her easel, maybe outside. What do you think she was pondering as she painted this headstone? Did the rose-red paint remind her of the person it was for? The way she renders the woodgrain, it's like she’s feeling the material, the weight of the cross. The rounded edges give it a soft, approachable quality, despite its somber purpose. And those tiny nails! They are like memories, fixed in place. This piece kinda reminds me of Marsden Hartley's crosses. There's that same raw, emotional honesty. Artists, we're all in this big conversation, you know? Passing ideas around, remixing them, adding our own stories. And painting, it's like this physical record of thinking, feeling, and seeing, all at once, never truly settled and complete.