This image was printed posthumously by master printmaker Carol Robertson at Graal Press, who had worked closely with Barns-Graham from 1998 up until the artist’s death in 2004. It was printed in 2007 as an edition of 25. From the late 1950’s Barns-Graham was making work that focused on the form and composition of the brushstroke, and she regularly used the motif in her work. 'Two Black Brushstrokes' is a reduced and pared-back version of her earlier brushstroke works which were expressive and layered colourfully with other shapes and symbols. This distillation of form was a characteristic of the print-works that Barns-Graham’s made in her late 80’s and early 90’s.