High Chair (for infants) c. 1938

Frank Gutting made this watercolour of a high chair sometime in the 20th century. Looking at it, I think about the quiet concentration it must have taken. You know, sometimes painting ordinary things can be the most profound. Gutting isn’t trying to be flashy here. The dark seat and the light frame, it’s like he’s trying to understand the object from the inside out. I imagine him studying the subtle shifts in colour and tone, capturing the way light plays across the smooth, varnished surface. The details are so precise. It reminds me that painting isn’t just about what you see, it’s about how you see, how you feel, how you connect with the world around you, one brushstroke at a time.