One summer, at Svibo, Öland, another artist, Charlotte, and I were on our own in the barns. It was that quiet time on a Saturday in that window of time after one group had left and before the next group began arriving. We had both rolled out long canvases at opposite sides of the back yard and had given them a ground coating of paint – in my case one was painted a vibrant yellow ochre, the other a beautiful mauve that l’d mixed.

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Then came the next stage, choosing and mixing the colours for the next round. For the mauve canvas, I mixed a darker hue, a lavender-purple. (The yellow canvas became the series When the Darkness Subsides/När mörkret skingras; you can read about the continuation for those paintings there.)

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Now we had some real fun, both singing and dancing around our canvases while we, fairy-like, threw the new colours at our canvases. So much joy and fun!

Later, the canvases were divided into smaller pieces. In this case, two larger (98x98), and 11 smaller (35×35). I was pleased with them, but not sure if they were done.

 

They lay around for several years until one day I felt the need, a strong craving, to paint big and my hands fell on one of the large canvases. Now began the metamorphosis of this canvas as an entirely new expression came into being. And I was so filled up with this expression that I needed all those saved up canvases to be complete.

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If you're interested in these, do consider getting two, three or four together. They really like being in each others' company! Of course they are great as solitaires as well.