Dress c. 1936

Lillian Causey made this study of a dress in watercolor and ink, sometime in the 20th century. Notice how the pink wash gives a sense of the dress's overall form and volume, while the intricate lace pattern is described with delicate ink lines. For me, that’s how artmaking feels - like balancing gesture and detail, freedom and control. The texture is so smooth, almost like it was breathed onto the paper. The watercolor is thin and transparent, allowing the paper to glow from underneath, and the ink lines dance across the surface, defining the ruffles and folds of the fabric. The lace detailing, especially, has a life of its own – a miniature world of swirling shapes and delicate connections. It reminds me of Hilma af Klint’s early botanical drawings which used line in much the same way. It gives the impression of something ephemeral, something seen in a dream, because art embraces ambiguity over any fixed idea, it feels like an ongoing conversation across time.