Buttercup Time 1920

Willard Metcalf made *Buttercup Time* with oil paint on canvas, and it feels like a big, generous exhale. The colors are those of a meadow in full bloom, painted with brushstrokes that seem to dance and shimmer. Up close, you can see how Metcalf layered thin washes of paint to create depth and texture. Look at the way he captured the light filtering through the clouds. It's almost as if he bottled sunshine! The yellows of the buttercups really sing out from the canvas. Notice how the dashes of paint are placed so deliberately, but also so freely? Metcalf was really influenced by French Impressionism, and you can see that in the way he used color and light to capture a fleeting moment in time. *Buttercup Time* isn't just a picture of a field, it's an experience. It's the feeling of warmth, and the joy of being surrounded by beauty. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and feeling the world around us.