'It is not the subject that truly interests me, but the many possible ways, and finally the only possible way of expressing it. Setting up canvas and box in all weathers, I seek first to unravel the essential meaning of my subject, which is synonymous with its structure, and to understand my own psychological reactions to it. Next I must decide how best it can be rendered in paint, not by a literal copying of objects but by combinations and juxtapositions of lines, forms, planes, tones, colours etc., such as will have an aesthetic meaning when put on canvas' (Ivon Hitchens, personal memorandum, circa 1954)