Cigar Store Figure "Sailor" c. 1940

Hilda Olson made this small watercolor of a "Cigar Store Figure 'Sailor'" with the bare minimum, just a sheet of paper and some watercolour paint. I can almost see her, bending over her desk, trying to capture the roundness of the sailor's face, the cuteness of the outfit, the way his little shoes bend up at the toes. It’s amazing how a few strokes of blue transform into a jaunty sailor’s hat, and how brown and red come together to make that confident, yet slightly goofy, expression. The paint is thin and the colours muted, but that works, it's gentle, quiet, and endearing. I love how the red of the kerchief kind of vibrates against the blue of his shirt. It's a really simple picture, no tricks or fancy stuff, and yet it speaks volumes. Olson is part of a long conversation between painters, each one adding their voice, their little splash of color, to the mix. Painting is all about that ongoing exchange, isn't it?