"Conviction" was painted late at night because I had squeezed too much orange paint into an open container and the thought of it drying out before the next day made me cringe.  It was a rich orange pigment, piled high in a bowl, and I couldn't let it go to waste.  I was tired, it was late, I had a blank canvas and no plan.  Without thinking twice I grabbed a flashlight, walked to the studio, and got to work.  I grabbed a big brush, scooped up a gob of orange paint, and threw it down.  That felt good.  I did it again, and again.  Then before flattening the paint with brushstrokes I grabbed another tube, this time a deep magenta, and squeezed it into a bowl.  More gobs thrown on canvas.  Then the next color, and the next.  From the corner of my eye I saw the scraper peeking at me, it wanted to be held, so I grabbed it.  I took it to the canvas and scraped the converging globs in circular motions, the blending was incredible.  I scraped again and again in rhythmic circles until all the globs were flattened.  I had never used this technique before and it was intoxicating.  There was so much power behind it, it was doing the work for me.  I felt an incredible sense of conviction coursing through the art.  All of a sudden everything fell into place.  Still I had no plan, but a new channel had opened.  The feeling in your gut that knows everything before your brain does, that's where magic lives, and its called Conviction.