Ionisation - the formation of ions by separating atoms or molecules or radicals or by adding or subtracting electrons from atoms by strong electric fields in a gas. The painting was called Ionisation by my husband, who said it reminded him of atoms separating. I liked the idea so used it, since I'd not really thought of an inspirational title myself! The background is painted in mixtures of ultramarine and phthalo blue acrylic, haphazardly spread onto the canvas with a palette knife. I then used a couple of emulsion matchpots for kitchen and bathroom in colours described as first dawn and sunbaked terracotta - the same colours I have recently used to decorate our hallway! In order to achieve the different styles to the circles, I painted some of them whilst the dark blue background was still wet, which helped the edges of each circle to mix with the background colour and give a gradated edge to it. I then waited for it all to dry and applied some more circles of colour, with varying pressure to get the different depths to the circles. Completion date:13th August 2006

see "Ionisation" on Helen Davison's website