‘This was later on in the series of work using action painting and pointillism (George Surat). I was still concerned with creating paintings without an image. And, further more I wanted to restrict my palette to a black and white tonal variation. The plan was to create a gradual variation in tone with a black cross at the centre. It had struck me that I could create work this way by making a single dark tonal mark as I did with Red Fold. So, using a cross was just a way to make this tonal mark using two lines instead of one. It seemed important to make the cross look like it was a singular gestural movement as though it had been painted very quickly, in two strokes. Bish, bash, bosh. It actually took an hour or two of careful placement to create this illusion. When I had finished using the deepest black the plan was to use shades of grey and finally white to complete the painting. As it happened, a good friend visited, saw the painting as it was and insisted that I didn’t touch it any more. Although I was concerned for some weeks afterward, I’m glad I was able to refrain from working on it further. The simplicity of this gestural mark seems to cut through the crap and really gets to people. In these day of such uncertainty it’s seems so relevant.