Finding Butch

In 1995 I was in a toy shop in Sheringham, Norfolk and mused over whether I should buy a hand puppet of a rather ugly dog called Butch. I had a vague idea I might use him to represent me in one of my family paintings, which I later called OFFRENDA.

A year later I was in the same toy shop and at the same counter (it was quite a big place) and I told the assistant that I definitely wanted to buy Butch. I was met with blank stirs by the staff but I remonstrated that nobody but me would want him!

It must have been instinct but without thinking I crawled on the floor, put my hand under the counter and retrieved the puppet, whose wrappings was covered in thick  dust. The stunned assistant let me have him at half price

You can see Butch and the painting I put him in on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.