I am interested in carnival’s fantastical masquerades because I like to paint the familiar morphing into the unfamiliar. I like transforming human figures into something startling or mysterious and in my hen-night pictures the costumes of bunny ears and bopper head gear are combined with a painting style that distorts the figures into the outlandish. Carnival festivity also has its dark side and these pictures include a girl who is a hanger on or isolated. She is an outsider hen, and so not a million miles from my marginalised shopper women.
