Side by side (before and after):
Practice Painting Nine (Eight clouds)

Only a future X-ray study will confess the original life of this piece. The innocence and intention of the first, now lost to the twists thrown it by life, age, and external forces. It now carries a raw bite which I like - an edge that contrasts with it's pleasant candy color - pathological cake icing. Eight Clouds.

It is the first version that terrified me. Like wet smoke, it is suffocating and claustrophobic - fluffy clouds aglow in murky depths - an invitation to drowning.