Crock c. 1941

John Tarantino made this drawing of a Crock, with what looks like watercolour, and a coloured pencil perhaps. I can imagine him in his studio, carefully layering washes of colour to achieve a sense of depth and texture; the blue bird is placed just so, the pressure of his hand on the brush just right! The blue pigment pools and settles, creating subtle variations that make the image almost glow. See how the bird is stylized, but there is still a sense of form and weight. Tarantino probably looked to folk art for this kind of flatness; it makes me think of early American pottery and its decoration. There's a conversation happening between him and those potters across time, isn't there? It's like they are exchanging ideas about how to represent the world around them in simple, yet powerful ways. I love how painting allows for that, and, in the end, allows for endless interpretations of simple things.