I photographed this wonderful child in the main street of a country town and did the painting immediately, basing the composition on the shape of the buildings around him. However, because the weight came forward and down into the left corner I pushed it back with the caged truck and two sinister figures, while lifting it with the camel's head and the decorations. The tree was essential to balance the strength of the child, as was the root to break what was becoming a large and weak area of pavement falling down out of the bottom of the painting.

I finally took a photo of the painting, went back and, by good chance, found and gave it to the child's sister.

This painting was done for a second show at the Norton Gallery in Sydney. Tamsin had, by then, left Richmond Gallery and gone to the UK, after which the gallery died and I was hunting around for where to go next when Mike Norton phoned and asked me to do the show.

** There are more notes on the Mormons on the 'Compare use of Mormons' Page and on the dog on the 'Compare Use of Black Dog' Page

Child Wearing a Dr Who Monster T Shirt is a more recent version of the child.