Hansel and Gretel

This painting started as a second attempt at the Ophelia figure. This time I wanted Hamlet by her side. To my mind, they were not that different to begin with, but it is action that connects us to the real world, and it was through action that Hamlet began to differentiate himself from Ophelia. I intended to make Ophelia very tentative, semi-transparent -- to 'not be'. And for Hamlet 'to be' -- his hands and forearms beginning to flow with blood.

But as I looked at the two figures side by side, it seemed to me that they might equally be Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel grown up. Grown up to a world in which no nation has the "substance" to solve our global problems. We are all Hansels and Gretels, and the trail of bread crumbs has vanished with our forests.

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