This concept of the 'picture plane' being smack up against the front of the canvas began with the Fence paintings and has been a device I have come back to ever since, particularly when things seem to be getting a bit too pretty.

Having researched the figures for this painting extensively (and found the figure for Man Running  in the process) I also came across the race official in the background to some extremely important event.

Yes, No 3 was from a photo of Kathie Freeman but I didn't want to do a portrait of her, or the other two, so it ended up a sort of hybrid, and not very successful, thing.

I did, however, always like the composition, the energy and the red, so it didn't get destroyed with the majority of my earlier unsold work.