Raspberry Palaver continues my exploration of food in clear containers. The shapes of the berries inside the bowl are more abstracted than in other paintings as the patterns from the glass ridges obscure their form. I was drawn to the beautiful soft reds of the fruit and the way it contrasts with the harsh bright surface of the glass bowl.
The title was inspired by over hearing a young girl asking for an ice cream whilst on holiday a few years ago. She said ‘ If they don’t have strawberry I’ll have raspberry palaver’. It’s such a great word and a happy memory that I included a small meringue kiss in the composition.
Taste - mark making exercise.
Earlier in the year I took part in an online listen live event from Wheatfen Nature Reserve in Norfolk, where artists Melanie Mascaenhas and Alice Angus guided us through a series of drawing exercises exploring mark making and how it relates to sound. We created abstract marks whilst listening to the dawn chorus and the sounds of the environment. I found that I used certain colours and marks for particular bird sounds. It made me curious if it could work with taste.
With closed eyes I tried drawing the taste of raspberries, which turned out harder than I thought as It was difficult to disassociate them from their colour, so instead tried to focus on texture using a pencil.
My plan was to include these marks in my preparatory tonal study and then they would continue through into the painting but it just wasn’t working as they weren’t adding anything to the drawing. I think the colours in the painting are more evocative of the flavours of raspberries and drawing what I taste needs a lot more investigation and a different approach.
Still Life of Raspberries in a Glass Dish - preparatory tonal study for a watercolour painting
Once I have enough information from the tonal study I select lines and print them onto stretched watercolour paper. I decided not to print the dish as I wanted to let the watercolour paint explain the ridges and patterns of the glass.
Instead of drawing I print with ink using the blotted line technique.
working out the reds
Technically, I found the raspberries difficult to paint, especially working out the colour mixing and layering washes. Sometimes I think it would be better to be bolder with the initial layers as I often start extremely pale and as I add more layers the initial stages are hidden.
After trying a few combinations to capture the soft slightly dusky reds I used a combination of washes with Quinacridone Red, Permanent Rose, Alizarin Red, along with a touch of Cadmium Yellow Pale, French Ultra Marine and Cobalt Blue.
Work in progress - layering washes of wet on wet watercolour paint.
Removing masking fluid.
Raspberry Palaver by Lucy Clayton
My fascination with food objects began when I painted a Pint of Prawns. I like the way a container holds a mini world or landscape with the subject’s form pressing against the transparent surface. The foods I choose hold personal memories or associations with a time, person or place, if you would like to read more about the inspiration behind each painting click on the titles below:
Giclee prints of Raspberry Palaver are available here.
