Copper Tea Kettle 1935 - 1942

This unassuming watercolour rendering of a copper tea kettle was painted by Clyde L. Cheney. I love how the object is rendered with such care and attention. The colours are pretty limited here; mostly browns and tans, which give the kettle a real sense of weight. The texture feels bumpy, but it's really just light and shadow doing their thing. It’s this faceting that gives the kettle a sense of age, of having been around the block a few times, you know? I keep looking at the handle and thinking about the hand that held it, the stories it could tell. Cheney has really nailed a particular kind of domestic, everyday beauty. It reminds me a bit of Giorgio Morandi's still lifes – same kind of quiet observation, but with maybe a little more Americana thrown in. It’s not about grand gestures; it’s about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.