Unfinished business

Unfinished Business (2006)

Dear art-lovers

Another entry for the Autumn Exhibition. This is a piece I started more than a year ago, when I came across a young dead frog that had been half eaten and its remains left by a stream. The sudden discovery prompted a moment or two of empathy and I went home to start this painting. I called it unfinished business because the frog itself had not finished its development and because my own journey, to buy some shrimps from the local village fishmonger (represented by the boat and pink shape in the upper-right corner), had also been interrupted. I picture the moment when the frog meets its demise. We see the tadpole-like ghostly imprint left behind as the blood flows free. The animal itself is hovering on the interface, still tethered to the ground by its mortal remains but no longer a recognisable sentient being. The picture also has a slightly unfinished feel to it, though this is a deliberate feature rather than laziness at work!