Windowsill with Wild Carrot and Pelargonium

Susan Ashworth painted "Windowsill with Wild Carrot and Pelargonium" in 2010, and it gathers a handful of everyday things onto a narrow ledge: glass jars, a tall vase filled with dried flowers and bare twigs, a few small pots, and the dark rounded shape of a little bird near the right edge. The style is loose and quick, built up from confident patches of orange, teal, and brown that hint at objects rather than pinning them down. Even so, the eye reads it all easily. You know which shape is glass, where the water sits, and how the spindly stems shoot up toward the top of the canvas.

Part of what makes the picture likable is its modesty. The wild carrot, better known to many as Queen Anne's lace, is really just a roadside weed, and the pelargonium is the plant most of us call a geranium. These are not showy blooms arranged for a grand bouquet, but a plain corner of a room caught in soft indoor light. Ashworth keeps the palette quiet and muted, then lets small sparks of warm color break through to keep things alive. The result is an honest, unfussy still life that finds something worth painting in an ordinary spot most people would walk right past.