Technique Demo (Wood Grain) c. 1938

Harry Mann Waddell made this watercolor, Technique Demo (Wood Grain), at an unknown date. What strikes me is how matter-of-fact the process is here. It's right there in the title, a demo, which suggests an experiment or a lesson of some kind. The grain is laid down with such care, each ring a record of time and nature, but also of human skill. I find myself drawn to the bottom of each example where the paint seems to dissolve, a beautiful, blurry edge. It is at the base where the wood-ness evaporates. The physicality of the medium becomes so apparent; the liquid seeping, flowing, and staining. It reminds me of Agnes Martin's quiet grids, where the hand is so present, the lines wavering, revealing the human touch. Here, the demo becomes something more—a meditation on material, process, and the strange beauty of observation.