Scarlet against grey was always intended and is fundamental to the novel. Colour as sensation and symbolic. Intense concentration with the pouring and shaping of a mark that must not be still, that must 'appear' flowing and liquid. Risk: the mark is controllable only to a certain degree, by the liquidity of the paint-mix, the position of the body and canvas and the action, but the results are unpredictable. It is exhilarating to make a mark that can never be made again. We are now getting close to that tension between the subject-matter and the physicality of the paint that underpins the best of my work. It's a beautiful shape, curves like petals...I have found my 'unexpected'.With the intensity of red and its' fading out, and with the circle and symbol, my intention is for the viewer to read the painting from right to left - I hope I have succeeded. Only minor changes today : a sharpening of the rectangle and a new clarity and zip in the top right corner and a touch of soft pink around the canvas. We might be done. What a job the tilted red rectangle does. It is a specific shape/location from the novel, but it's the instinctive placement, colour, scale, purity and difference that makes it work for the painting, A counter-movement with the circle and the lilac-shape that cuts across the red.
