Stitching The Standard 1911

Edmund Blair Leighton made this painting of a woman sewing in maybe the late 1800s, and he used oil paint, the same stuff I use! I feel like I’m watching a movie still… something dramatic has just happened. What’s her story? Is she stitching this flag, this “standard,” after a battle? It’s got these crazy colors, like, what do they mean? And she’s got a job to do, right, with the needle, gotta keep it moving. That yellow dress… it’s a bit drab, I gotta say. Still, there’s something tender about the way it hangs on her, like the soft surface of paint. And the wall she’s sitting on – the painter really takes his time to show you the surface of the stone and the way the light hits it. It’s funny, like, maybe Leighton was thinking about all the different kinds of work there are: the soldier's, the seamstress's, and the painter's, all layered up, and how they all kinda depend on each other.