Toy Bus c. 1939

Owen Middleton made this watercolour and graphite drawing of a 'Toy Bus' at an unknown date. I love how he’s used these pale shades, kind of chalky. It gives the whole thing a slightly faded, nostalgic feeling. The wheels and horses in particular are all about process, you can almost see him trying to figure out how they move as he’s drawing, and there’s a real energy in those marks. It’s not about getting it perfect, it’s about the journey. The surface is quite flat, and there's a delicate, almost tentative touch. Look at the details, the little pink decorations on the bus, those touches of red on the horses. It's like he's adding these small details with a sense of wonder. It reminds me a little of some of Red Grooms’s crazy cardboard constructions, that same playful energy, that sense of making something real out of almost nothing. Art is an ongoing conversation, an exchange of ideas across time.