Ceiling of Baptistry Niche, Mission Dolores c. 1940

Hilda Olson made this watercolor of the Mission Dolores Baptistry Niche, but when? I wonder what year that ceiling was painted, and by whom? The image shows lots of small painted chevron marks, in alternating bands of ochre, blue and red. It’s a humble, slightly wonky pattern. The colours look like they're based on naturally occurring pigments - something from the earth, maybe. I’m thinking about Olson, standing in that space, looking up, trying to figure out how to translate that niche onto paper. Did she laboriously copy each chevron one by one? Did she work out the basic repeat of the pattern and then fill it in, willy-nilly? What kind of paper did she use? There’s an interesting back and forth between observing and abstracting; interpreting the ‘real’ ceiling and making a pleasing image. It’s the kind of painting that feels deeply connected to its subject. It reminds me that artists are always looking at each other’s work across time, and how paintings teach us to see the world differently.