Shaker Man's Collar c. 1936

Elizabeth Moutal made this watercolour, Shaker Man's Collar, with an amazing sense for the poetry of everyday objects. You know, how something as simple as a collar can become this quiet, contemplative form? It’s all in the layering, the way she builds up the colour. Look at the main body of the collar. The pale lilac isn't just a flat wash, but a mix of translucent layers. You can almost feel the paper underneath, giving it this gentle, luminous quality. And then there’s the creamy white of the inner lining, which contrasts so beautifully with the subtle blues around the button. The slight imperfections, the tiny variations in tone, these aren't mistakes. They're the life of the painting, a record of the artist's hand and eye. It makes me think of Agnes Martin, another artist who found so much depth in the simplest of forms, or maybe a little Morandi. These are artists who embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations over fixed or definitive meanings.