Clock c. 1935

Ruth Bialostosky made this watercolour clock, well, we don’t know exactly when, but sometime between 1855 and 1995. It’s easy to imagine Ruth, lost in the details of this clock, carefully rendering the woodgrain and tiny numbers. I bet she found herself completely absorbed in the repetitive motion of the brush, letting the colours spread and blend, building up the image layer by layer. The clock has such a calm stillness, and it makes me think about all those painters, like Giorgio Morandi, who found endless possibilities in rendering a quiet collection of objects. Each brushstroke is so deliberate, a patient meditation on time and form. It’s not just a picture of a clock; it’s a record of the artist's focused attention. Maybe painting this was her way of slowing down time, or maybe stopping it altogether.