Canteen 1935 - 1942

Edna C. Rex made this drawing of a canteen, sometime in the 20th century, with watercolour and graphite. It’s interesting to see how she’s approached a fairly rigid subject with so much visual freedom. The colours are muted, like looking at something familiar through a haze of memory. You can see the light pencil lines underneath, a kind of scaffolding, letting us in on her process. I like that. It’s not trying to be a perfect representation, but something more intimate. Look at how she’s rendered the wood grain, those vertical strokes – not too fussy, but enough to give you a sense of the material. I’m reminded of the drawings of Charles Burchfield, that same kind of quiet observation of everyday objects. It’s a reminder that art isn’t just about grand gestures, but also about finding beauty in the mundane, and how different artists find a similar kind of inspiration. There's something comforting about that connection.