Lady's Carpet Bag c. 1936

Kathryn Uhl made this watercolour painting of a Lady's Carpet Bag; it's a charming, folksy image. The colors are warm, like a faded memory, and the patterns have a handmade quality, not quite perfect, which gives it a lovely, human feel. What strikes me is the texture she creates. The orange background looks like it's been built up in layers, with a kind of watercolor wash effect. And then there are these quirky, almost cartoonish images of a lion’s head, each slightly different, like individual characters, surrounded by diamonds. The green and white trim is applied in short dashes, with tiny imperfections that give it a lively, almost vibrating quality. It reminds me a little of Henri Rousseau, with that same kind of self-taught directness and love of pattern. And like Rousseau, Uhl reminds us that art doesn't have to be slick or polished to be deeply affecting. There's a real beauty in the handmade, in the little imperfections that reveal the artist's hand and heart.