As part of the Backstory series on Tilted Arc, painter Elizabeth Gourlay reflects on a recent series of paintings.

Gourlay comments: "After an afternoon and evening roaming the streets of an ancient hill town in Italy, observing the light from the walls and buildings and sky light seen through overhanging eaves, I awoke the following morning with about 15 vivid abstract images of bold geometric lines and shapes fixed in memory. They seemed to be a perfect synthesis of the architecture and my recent thoughts about abstract art, in particular, Tantric meditative painting. I worked continuously over the next month to capture the qualities and specific colors, lines and geometries of these vision-paintings… Although I often have an image in my mind, I try to keep my conscious mind, the editor, in another room. This allows freedom to explore and expand intuitively on the initial vision, to incorporate unexpected and playful juxtapositions, to enter the 'dialogue' with the piece while remaining honest to the original image."