Bridget Riley's paintings are developed carefully over time, the result of methodically working through pictorial variables such as color, tone, scale, and rhythm. Studies are central to this process, allowing Riley to concentrate on the analysis and synthesis that lie at the heart of her working practice. This volume richly illustrates the thinking that goes into Riley's work through a selection of over 150 drawings, color analyses, notations, scale studies, and cartoons. The selection spans most of Riley's working life, tracing the origins and evolving nature of her remarkable body of work. Riley's beginnings are also documented through selected childhood drawings, work made during and immediately following her studies at Goldsmiths' College and the Royal College of Art, and her early explorations into abstraction.

The artist's working method is brought into high relief in a newly commissioned conversation with Riley and Sir John Leighton, Director of the National Galleries of Scotland. The text explores the cardinal moments in the artist's practice and the impulses that bring her work into existence. The volume also includes four texts dedicated to Riley's studies and practice written by the artist, art historians, curators, and museum directors, which shed further light on the enduring role of drawing and the process of exploration central to her work.