Waiting for the Second explores the uncertainty created when superstition collides with something we love and feel compelled to protect. The painting depicts my rabbit alongside a solitary magpie - a bird traditionally associated with sorrow or misfortune when encountered alone.
The magpie's presence becomes ambiguous: friend or foe, harmless visitor or omen? Nothing has happened, yet superstition creates the possibility that its appearance might carry meaning.
The work occupies the uncomfortable interval before that uncertainty can be resolved. In the traditional rhyme, the appearance of a second magpie would transform “one for sorrow” into “two for joy”, neutralising the perceived threat. Until then, the first remains suspended between coincidence and warning.
The painting considers how fear for something we love can make us particularly vulnerable to superstition, and how quickly chance can become charged with consequence when we are searching for reassurance.
Acrylic, oil pastel and graphite on canvas, 2026100cm x 100cm
