Agnes Martin

Acrylic on canvas 60cm x 45cm

1 There are 4 thin washes of colour over a blue ground. The surface was
deliberately not smoothed so that when I drew the grid the lines had some subtle
texture and variety. The washes are various depths of mid-light yellow.

2 I drew a grid with pencil, leaving a border. The divisions were 4cm and 1 cm. (I
originally did 4cm x 2cm but this didn’t work)

3 I then laid a wash of white acrylic mixed with gloss medium and water,
deliberately leaving a texture at the edges.

4 Each rectangle in the grid was painted with a light yellow. I used the same
brush stroke each time, pushing down gently and releasing going right to left (I
am left-handed). Each brush-load of paint was used for 10 rectangles that made
variations is the depth of colour. The grid is 12 rectangles, so reloading the brush
after ten rectangles made the subtle pattern less regular.

The experience of making this painting was quite new for me. I found it had a
pleasing rhythm and the repetition of the yellow rectangles was very quiet and
calm. I am usually rather clumsy and splashy so I found this a very interesting
way to work.

The phrase that came to mind when I started laying down the light yellow
washes was, “follow the light”. I didn’t expect the darker yellow rectangles to
float over the ground but found that pleasing.