A chap had commissioned me to do some work for him, and the project had taken me a week. A pretty intense week, actually, and when I'd finished, I had a piece of canvas left over.
Suddenly all the pressure was off and I just followed my instincts to produce this painting in almost no time at all. I did it all freeform, with no planning and no sketch beforehand.
This was a real point of departure. I got a lot of confidence from it, and it shaped my technique for quite a while afterwards. This is the start of the modern me.