Sliced Lemon 1963

Alexander Calder made this Sliced Lemon painting using gouache in 1963, and what strikes me first is the way he's just gone for it with the brush marks. It’s like he's not trying to be too precious, which I always find refreshing in a painting. There's something wonderfully crude and direct about how the colours are applied, especially the juicy yellow of the lemon against that brushed blue ground. Look how the red shape pushes up against the black circle, and the way he’s left the white of the paper showing through in places – it's all so immediate and playful. That wiggly black line at the top is so nice and simple. He's just having fun with shapes. Calder's like a grandfather to me in that sense, always reminding me to embrace the accidental, to find the joy in making, and to not overthink things.