Grave Digger by Teddy Hansen

To create shadow puppets, people hold their hands up to a bright light and position their hands to create things like butterflies, dogs or rabbits.
This painting looks into what happens if a shadow would do the opposite and cast a real life animal, whilst also being love story.

A man has sadly died and become a ghosts. He was buried with his wedding ring which he knows his widowed wife would love to have kept so in his ghost from he cast a shadow puppet which for him becomes a real dog.
The dog is then cast to dig up his crave and retrieve the wedding ring to take it to his widowed wife. 

Around the edges you see a border of crosses, bones, rings and butterflies.  In the bottom left you see the man in his grave, stood on top is the ghost casting a dog with candle light. The dog has a lead maid from a daisy chain and a daisy nose, both leading him to the grave as daisy’s (or perrenidal flowers) often grow in graveyards. 

2024