Carpet Bag c. 1937

Edna Rex made this watercolor of a carpet bag, and look how the paint blooms on the page. It reminds me that artmaking is a process. It's not just about the end result, but about the doing, the experimenting, and the happy accidents along the way. Notice the way Rex used thin washes of color to build up the image of the bag. The paint is transparent, allowing the white of the paper to shine through. This gives the painting a luminous quality. The visible brushstrokes give the bag texture and form, it feels real. See how, in the center of the bag, Rex let the colors mingle and bleed into each other, creating a sense of depth and shadow? This is where the painting really comes alive for me. This piece is a great reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, and that there's always room for new voices and perspectives.