The back lanes of Melbourne are a feast of graffiti and ripped posters and I had enormous fun planning and painting this but, of course, there were compromises. I had already found the wrestlers images and really wanted to use those but....this is what it would have looked like. Too many wrong 'messages'! I had thought (in the midst of the last election) that J Howard would have remained demonic forever - fortunately I had to fade him away for the composition to work.

The last vampire child was quite close to the original but this painting needed more structure - hence the trident and the dropped arm + rubber bat. I looked for that trident for weeks and weeks - a friend said she had seen one but we could NOT find it again. Then it turned up in a local toyshop. It's hung on my studio wall now.

Those familiar with the new Dr Who series will have seen the monster. Years ago I used to try and photograph the television to capture images but now I just freeze-frame the DVD on the computer, manipulate it in Photoshop and do a big, glossy print. Too easy.

The screaming man is DJ Hyper.