I don’t remember exactly how I painted the berries but I did it all in one day so I started with the seeds and painted the reflections over them while the paint was wet. In the underpainting the berries where not more than a little circle filled with some warm grayish yellowish color if I remember it well.

The underpainting is a somewhat rough painting of the complete scene. Unfortunately there is no photo of it for this picture. Hanneke will answer your other questions.

But I don’ t understand the process;

‘Then she made an underpainting with acrylic.’ Is this the black background?

‘The next day she painted all the berries with oil paint, a tiring day’s work. Why did she paint them all in one day? “Yes, the berries go away quickly,” says Hanneke. She wanted to capture the fresh, ripe quality of the fruit before the berries dried.” I don’ t understand this at all.

Looking at the berries, I see several colors, the orange seeds inside, the white translucent skin and the reddish furry tops. Did she first paint the orange seeds inside? How long did the oil paint have to dry before she added the translucent white top layer?

1) The berries, which held a deep and urgent importance to the painter,

2) The cup, which is painted with care, but lacks the hard material quality of ceramics, as opposed to the delicate organic quality of the fruit.

3) The base, which is without detail and somewhat crude.

A painting need not be uniform in its degree of finish of course. But for this picture, the levels of finish correspond too closely with the actual objects, and this causes the painting to lack unity. The solution would seem to be for the artist to look for something in the cup that is special, and in the base/table top as well. I think a few touches would suffice, if they are chosen with care. We will follow this painting.