Peaches and Strawflowers 1990

Janet Fish, sometime in the last few years, painted "Peaches and Strawflowers" with what looks like watercolor or maybe thin acrylic on paper, and it's all about how light bounces around. Look at the way she renders the glass bowl – you can practically feel the cool smoothness and the way the light refracts through it, all achieved with these juicy, transparent layers. It’s like she’s chasing the light, trying to pin it down before it shifts again. Then your eye travels up to the flowers, so vibrant and lively, that they almost seem to pop off the paper. The way Fish simplifies things reminds me of Fairfield Porter, but with a bit more oomph. Both artists celebrate the everyday, but where Porter is calm, Fish is like, let's throw a party for the ordinary! It feels like she's showing us that painting is really about seeing, feeling, and then translating that energy onto the surface. There's no right answer, just a constant search.