Sleighing Bonnet c. 1941

Lillian Causey’s “Sleighing Bonnet,” is a watercolour on paper. I am fascinated by this rendering of a bonnet: the textures, the colours, and the delicate lines! What’s so striking is that Causey has taken something so familiar, something everyone would have known, and given it this close attention and care. You can tell she really looked at it, right? The outside is a kind of green-grey, maybe a practical colour to hide the dirt? But the inside is this amazing pink. I like to imagine Causey thinking about colour when she painted, maybe imagining how these colours would feel on a cold winter day? Causey has made another little sketch of a bonnet in the corner; it is like she can't stop exploring its form! I feel like she is really inviting us to look closely and to wonder at the beauty of everyday things.