Artist's Palette Ornament

The Artist's Palette Ornament is one of the few gifts for artists that does not assume the recipient wants more supplies. It is a kidney-shaped board in blown glass with a thumb hole cut through it and nine wells of color set around the rim, each one applied on its own rather than printed as a ring of dots. The wells sit slightly proud of the surface so the paint still reads as wet from a few feet back, which is the entire trick and took several rounds to get right. Just over three inches top to bottom, it hangs light and turns slowly on its loop. My uncle Wendell has painted every Sunday for thirty years and has never shown me a finished canvas, only the palette he used, which he holds to be the more informative object. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gives real estate to lyric sheets covered in crossings-out, on the theory that the surface where the work happened tells you more than the version that got released.