Sandra Blow, R.A. (1923-2006)

'From an early stage, Blow had developed the habit of rotating paintings or viewing them in mirrors as a way of detecting weak areas or imbalances. With such large pictures (as in the present work), these methods were impractical, and Blow came increasingly to rely on Polaroid photographs to help her record and assess the various stages of a picture's evolution ... Blow (also) sometimes used paper collage to try out different colours and shapes on canvas. She fixed the pieces of collage to the canvas with a staple gun, which made them easily removable. When she was satisfied with a composition, she would draw round the collage shapes' (M. Bird, Sandra Blow, Aldershot, 2005, p. 109).

We are very grateful to Jonathan Grimble Modern Art for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.