’One Down’ and ’Two to Go’ is the only pair made in the 1980s of which both images were in monochrome. They were never intended to be printed in colours. The hand colouring was an integral part of the process. The layering of printed and painted marks creates the rich effect of a tapestry. The pair refers to a reality known exclusively to the artist which has been coded in a rhythmic pattern of geometric ornaments.
— Liesbeth Heenk, Howard Hodgkin: Prints (London: Thames & Hudson, 2003), 81.
