Cushion Top c. 1936

Florence Huston made this watercolor drawing of a cushion top. The cushion has been rendered with an eye for detail, and it’s the kind of piece that invites you to look closer. The drawing has been made with thin washes of colour. Look closely at the brown edging of the cushion and you will notice that the artist has worked in short staccato marks. This technique is continued in the rendering of the deer at the centre of the composition, giving the animal an almost mossy appearance. There’s something very tactile and alluring about this artwork. The colour and attention to the cushion tassels makes me think of the work of someone like Jim Lambie or Alan Shields, artists who embraced the decorative and combined this with an acute awareness of the history of modern painting. This piece celebrates not just the object it represents, but art-making itself as a labour of love and an ongoing conversation.