1 - 3) vintage pins (4) painting by ashley puckett (5 & 6) Carl Larsson watercolors.
I found some vintage Red Cross pins at an antique show last weekend amongst a pile of old dirty postcards. They demanded my attention immediately. I picked them up because, first off, they’re beautiful. Especially in a group. Secondly, I just finished a painting of what appears to be this very smattering of pins (see painting above). But it’s not, cause I didn’t actually have the pins when I did the painting.
Without getting into the whole process behind a painting (it’s like explaining a dream no one really wants to hear)… I’ll just say that my painting was done on wooden tiles, intended to be for my kitchen, and I was thinking more about the Swiss flag, neutrality, simplicity, and the Swedish artist Carl Larsson than the traditional meaning behind the Red Cross. However, using the red cross made me aware of the emblem, and how nice and simple it is. I love how making art causes one to notice things (like little buttons and pins) that would have otherwise possibly gone unnoticed.
So anyway, now I have these little pins, and a new painting. They’ll be for sale at the shop. —aap
