Child's Dress c. 1936

Catherine Fowler drew this child's dress, probably with pencil and watercolour, using the paper like a mirror to bounce light. It's a sketch, or a study for a dress maybe. It makes me think about my own process, how sometimes my paintings begin with a doodle, a tiny little sketch that expands and takes on a life of its own. It's such a simple composition but holds so much intention, like Fowler is pushing at the possibilities of pattern-making. I can imagine her as a maker, a real ideas person, thinking about the cut and shape and how it will move, and how she might create it. The dress, suspended on the paper, almost floats. And, although it's just an image, I can imagine the material itself and the gesture of wearing it. Like all artists, Fowler is in conversation with the world around her, turning observations into something meaningful.