I found this wonderful old relic at a neighbor's garage sale this past summer, and wanted to make a painting of it, or several, at first sight. The broken space bar and the dust didn't put me off one bit. As I've drawn several studies for this, I found myself thinking about what kinds of letters, or legal documents, or novels found their first or finished drafts on these rollers. Oh the stories it could tell. This one is from c.1909 according to the model and serial numbers. That's a whole lot of time to develop some of those stories! I love painting objects for this simple reason; each object brings with it no only a long and wonderful history of it's past, the people and the places it's touched, but also it's brimming with an invitation and with possibilities for the future. Not to mention that these objects are just stunningly beautiful within themselves, works of art which deserved to be noticed and cherished.