The painting was inspired by the mystery and mythology of the use of anvils in cartoons. If not for cartoons, I greatly suspect I would have no idea what an anvil was. (Or, I would have discovered it far, far, later.) The idea for the painting sprang when I tried to place the reason why anvils became the go-to device of villainous foil.
Turns out, nobody seems to know the answer for certain. However, I did come across this article 'Watch Out For Falling Anvils' written by Cal Meacham, who did some animation history research of his own and suggests the the use of anvils in cartoons could be inspired by 'anvil launching', which I previously never heard of. I recommend reading the article for more info. (Cal, if you are reading this, THANK YOU for writing this article - I tried searching for your contact online to thank you personally, but was unsuccessful.)
The painting above is currently still available. Please E-mail me if you're interested.
