It is surprising when a painting starts to operate abstractly, areas you thought needed more detail now work better as a gestural mark. I think things become a lot more interesting when you are painting on instinct, rather than illustrating what is there. I know Francis Bacon would have backed me up on this. You move into an area of painting that is elemental and mysterious, where it is more to do with relationships of colour and shape and I think my painting has shifted more in this direction. The painting has now got to a point where the focus is now on subtle relationships rather than big changes.
Netherton, springtime. Day 4