Wooden Cross used as Headstone c. 1937

Majel G. Claflin made this watercolor, Wooden Cross used as Headstone, sometime before she died in 1941. The way the cross angles, it makes me think of those old cartoons where trees and houses lean after a big wind. I imagine Claflin, brush in hand, maybe outside, trying to capture the rough texture of the wood, the way the light hits those carved edges. And then, she adds these delicate, almost hopeful, orange flowers. They seem to be climbing, wanting to live on. Claflin worked during a time when many artists were drawn to New Mexico, drawn to the light and the landscape. You see a lot of crosses in Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings too. I think artists were, and still are, looking for something spiritual, something elemental, in these simple forms.