The Telly© - Oil Painting

Television (or 'The Telly' as we call it in England) is the great stealer of time. This is a very sad painting. Even now, years later, I still get emotional about it. The old couple are watching the telly. On the wall behind them is a painting I also did, titled 'Queue' . It features the same couple 20 years younger. I wanted to see what they would be doing years later, when they were old. So here they are. They occupy the same space as each other, they exist in the same time and even sit upon the same couch and yet they do not truly live together.There are book behind them that they will never read. Instead, they live vicariously through the fabricated lives of those they watch on the television.He holds onto his remote control in a dead mans grip. Her eyes are still open but her mind closed years ago.The only living thing still linking them, still bridging that vast space on the couch is.......their dog. It's painful for me to admit, but the figure on the right was in many ways my mo