The variety of colours and the eclectic range amount of objects in this piece give a sense of a crowded and disorderly space. Most of the objects that make up the image are only shown in part and are hard to identify, adding to the feel of a cluttered room.
According to the artist, this painting was an experiment in a particular technique that was then replicated in further artworks. Nelson states that he aimed to "develop a looser, less confining method of working". The piece was inspired by floor of Nelson's workspace when he was in college an "arbitrary choice of subject matter [that] seemed to appeal to my mood at the time".
S. Nelson was born in Glasgow, and worked in the government service before attending Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, after which he spent time in Australia.