Wake for a woodworm, 2009
Oils on canvas, 151 x 90 cm

Wake for a woodworm is a fairly large painting when compared to my usual sizes. It developed from some other paintings of woodworm, arranged so that the woodworm are conducting a wake grouped around a coffin-shaped cavity excavated into the surface of the timber for the burial of a deceased woodworm. What would be a good timber object on which to place this composition? A coffin seemed apt. I liked the idea of the painting being difficult to reproduce in print or photographs, because the central scene – the wake – is so small. You can see a detail in the next photo in this gallery.