For a long time, I had had the idea to paint a surrealistic royal portrait of Queen Elizabeth or someone royal but with a weird aspect like an alien in the background or having tentacles, as opposed to hands. I almost went with the tentacle idea, but then one night I had a thought that made me laugh: What if she had a rabid possum, instead? So I made a note of the thought, and when I woke up the next day it made me laugh even more. And then I decided that was what it would be. It took a while, because I’m not great at portraits but I really wanted this to be as good as I could make it. I’ve had several people comment to me since seeing this that they can no longer see Queen Elizabeth without imagining the possum. Makes me laugh every time.