Painstaking Process

Though modest in size, “Wine, Lemon, and Berries” was created through a process marked by patience, precision, and deep consideration—each decision made in pursuit of quiet clarity and luminous balance.

The painting began, as many of my works do, with a series of small pencil sketches. These loose thumbnails explore rhythm and structure—the rise and fall of forms, the spacing between objects, the interplay of curves and diagonals. In a composition like this one, where simplicity leaves no room to hide, balance becomes everything. The weight of a single berry can tip the entire scene.

Once the arrangement felt right, a color study followed—a small painted version that tests the palette and atmosphere. For this piece, the sky was as important as the fruit. Its tone had to lift the foreground rather than flatten it, and the distant violet-pinks had to echo subtly in the reflections and edges of the glass.

The final drawing was transferred onto a professional panel, prepared with a smooth archival surface. Unlike canvas, which has a visible texture, the panel allowed me to capture the fine edges and luminous transparencies I wanted. Working in acrylic required a different rhythm—rapid, deliberate layering of color in thin films, each one building depth without clouding the light beneath.

The wineglass was a particular challenge, demanding close observation. Its stem and bowl catch light in delicate, unpredictable ways. A single misplaced highlight can disrupt the illusion. Hours were spent adjusting the edges, refining the reflections, and softening the transitions to capture that elusive sense of glass: solid, transparent, and alive.

Each element—the curled lemon peel, the rich purple wine, the scattering of fruit—was rendered with a balance of control and restraint. The goal was never photorealism, but presence. Not just to depict the objects, but to allow them to feel quietly inhabited by light and air.

In the end, the process of making this painting mirrored the feeling it hopes to evoke: a slow unfolding, a quiet attentiveness, and a reverence for the luminous beauty of ordinary things.