Carafe c. 1937

Janet Riza's ‘Carafe’ is an intriguing artwork of uncertain date, using watercolour and graphite on paper. I can almost picture her, Janet, hunched over this thing, trying to get it just right. Did she start with the top, or the base? I bet she had to redraw those geometric details a few times. The deep pinky-red hue makes the carafe look like it's filled with delicious raspberry juice. It is as if she's really trying to capture the light as it bounces off the glass. I like the little imperfections, too. The way the lines aren't perfectly straight, and the colors bleed a bit around the edges. It's like she's saying, "Hey, I'm not trying to fool you; this is just paint on paper." But through the imperfections, a real connection emerges. And in that space, the everyday object of a carafe becomes something alive.