Sugar Bowl c. 1940

Rolland Livingstone’s ‘Sugar Bowl’ is painted in watercolour and you can really see him at work. The blue-green hues are so delicate! You can see how the painting came into being, built up from light washes of pigment. It’s easy to imagine Livingstone carefully studying the object, the play of light on the glass and the way its form sits in space. I sympathise with the artist here, trying to capture the transparency and curvature of glass with mere pigment. I wonder what he was thinking when he made it? Maybe about domesticity, the objects that populate our lives and the pleasure we take in everyday routines. Livingstone shares something with other painters, such as Giorgio Morandi, in his quiet contemplation of the still life. This artwork embraces ambiguity with its soft edges and subtle gradations of tone. This simple composition invites multiple readings and connects to other paintings and their ideas across time, reminding us that creativity is continuous!