Butter Mold c. 1939

John Price made this small, almost domestic, painting of a butter mold using watercolor. I can imagine him carefully mixing the browns, ochres, and creams to get just the right shades for the wood, capturing the way the light catches on the ridges and curves. You know, it must have been so satisfying to paint something so tactile! And it's not just about replicating what's there, but about the process of understanding the object through painting. Like, how does the grain of the wood curve? How do the shadows deepen in the carved patterns? It’s like Price isn't just painting a thing, but also painting the feeling of making butter, that transformation of cream into something solid and shaped. There’s something so humble and lovely about it. It reminds me that even the simplest, most everyday things can be a source of beauty and inspiration. And, you know, we’re all just adding our own little marks to that conversation, trying to make sense of the world through color and form, one painting at a time.