attitudes, and the scenarios in which they wish you to depict them. When did they begin appearing to you? Can you please tell us all about the pro-
cess of producing a painting, from a first dream?

Images of what to do in my work have always appeared in my dreams. Some days you wake up and there is no choice but to paint. Once working on an image I continually try to let the image dictate the direction in which it goes. The women always are there first; in allowing them to develop as the drawing proceeds, a sense of their environment and situation starts to develop as well. It is difficult to stop over-controlling the painting. Some of the initial looseness and excite-
ment of the drawing process I try to keep evident in the final piece.

Why “hussys” as the term for “your girls”? You hint there is a community of them that is almost real – can you reveal more about them, or this community?

I had always thought of Heavenlyhussys as a place and not a name for the girls. It was more of a sanctuary in which they could exist and develop, each one bringing something unique to the community. It now seems the earlier girls were developing their characters. It is only in the later work that they start to interact.

Focussing on some specific pieces now, is there a meta-
physical aspect to No Choice But To Leave; They’re So Cute, Can I Have One?; and Keeping a Check on Things?

No Choice But To Leave. Bound and banished, tormented and protected. The masked angel and the screaming demon character are tethered by an umbilical cord. It is the idea that the same thing that can protect you can also destroy you. She has been bound and cast out but really does not care too much – or does she? You can’t always see the fear behind the mask.

They’re So Cute, Can I Have One? The circus comes to town. I had been working for Disney on Tinker Bell’s home of Pixie Hollow, and I drifted off and found a carnival approach of strange magical trees in a saturated landscape. The two main characters are the Ring Mistress for the Carnival, and the Protector of Innocence. The two girls dancing in the ball are a portrayal of captive inno-
cence being dragged forth into the unknown; the lady with the knife is protecting them from whatever lies ahead in the unknown, but she probably wants one for her own more
than she should.

Keeping a Check on Things. Fending off the demons, she