Bowl c. 1936

John Cutting’s ‘Bowl’ is an undated watercolour that brings to mind the process of block printing: it feels like each colour was laid down one after the other. The way the flowers are rendered, so flat and slightly off-kilter, gives the piece a real handmade charm. The texture isn't about thick paint, but about the layering of transparent washes, building up these soft, glowing colours. Look at how the red petals of the central flower kind of bleed into each other, it’s like Cutting embraced the unpredictable nature of watercolour and let it do its thing. And there’s something almost architectural in the way he’s structured the bowl with those angular lines. It's not just a bowl; it's a wonky vessel filled with the joy of making. This piece reminds me of some of the early 20th-century folk art I love, where you see artists taking these everyday objects and turning them into something special through colour and pattern. The beauty is that there's no right or wrong way of looking at it, it’s a conversation.