This painting, of two impish children taking advantage of a moment of unsupervised freedom as their mother naps, is one of my favorites from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, here in Greensburg. The pun in the title intrigues me, as does the amazing complexity of the children’s clothing.

The painting was not there when I took the kids to the museum yesterday. I poked around online, and learned that it has been lent to the Smithsonian Institute.

Two impish children play with their mother’s pocket watch as she has fallen asleep. The title of the painting, “Mother’s Watch,” puns on her stolen timepiece and her stolen nap.