Original Painting: Relic by James Edward Scherbarth

A rust red shape hangs from a pale band like a hook dropped into deep water.

This original painting, Relic, is by James Edward Scherbarth (1949-2021), dated 2011, in oil and cold wax on cradle board, signed and dated en verso. Cold wax lets a painter bury and uncover layers, so an image can look partly excavated rather than simply applied. The upper fifth is pale silver-white, marked with gray and blue loops like faded script. The rest is a deep, pitted oxblood, from which a brighter red form descends in a long stem and a curling base. Darker red and orange speckle the ground around it. It is 12 inches wide and 12 high.

Something old surfaced and decided to stay a while.