gothic

Denouement

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I really don’t have anything artsy or insightful to say. I just wanted to create something with the single source strong light, and am ambient light, which was used a lot in Dutch / Northern Renaissance paintings. She’s bloody, she could use a shower, but she’s survived.

Here’s the close-in.

A Fragrant Silence

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Poppies symbolize those who have fallen in war – particularly World War I, but the souls of the lost and forgotten use them to shout, “here I am” as we living tend to forget them within a generation. In honor of Memorial Day coming up, I’ve put together this scene reminiscent of a glade in the Teutoberg forest, where legions died for the glory of a couple generals and politicians – It’s a story as old as humanity itself, how the humble are the stepping stones for those seeking glory and infamy. May we take a few moment between grilling burgers and sunbathing to remember those who gave all.

The Still Version

Horror Equality

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So the Friday the 13th series of movies began with a mom mad at counselors for letting her child drown, wanting to prevent this from happening to other children, and going all murder hobo as a result. Since then, the series has been focused on Jason and the creative ways people shuffle off this mortal coil. I re-envisioned Jason’s mother as a 20-something who followed the same path as the original movie. Fan art – yes. Inspiration was actually watching ‘Camp Crystal Lake Memories’ about making the entire series of movies. Honestly, I wasn’t invested in this series until I saw the making of. It’s mostly the passion of the actors that made me want to create this artwork. It won’t win any awards, but it’s certainly plugged in with the times.

A Vespertilian Thing

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She was no Mary Poppins. You felt it right away, there was something off about her, her elegance, how she smiled eerily at your vampire stuffed animal, ironically above you now – “Hold on,” your subconscious screams, “I’m not even old enough to know what irony is!” You begged them to hire anyone but her, but your mum and dad needed an overnight nanny, and they fell for that Sesame Street accent. “Oh, how cutely foreign,” your mom giggled, “privileged wankers!” Your subconscious meekly raises its hand, but you cut it off. “I know!,” you hiss curtly under your breath. Now, In the dark of it all, you’re paying the price. Plus side? Live forever. Negatives? They don’t make sunblock strong enough for what you’ll become. It’s enough to drive one batty!

Postpartum

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Can art still shock and offend? Can it still cause questions to be asked? Can it drive a conversation? In today’s digital artwork, which for some reason just finished a four-hour rendering (maybe the rig was offended), I explore the dark side of the Romanticism movement. I’ve drawn on David Caspar Friedrich, who IMHO is the nexus of the movement, as well as adding an element of taboo. Of course, the work is dark (sunset plus phones/mobile devices make it harder to see), so pay attention to your surroundings. The point? I read an article yesterday on depression that led me down a rabbit hole, wherein I ended up in the squishy field of Postpartum Depression. Of course, as a man, it’s something I don’t have to deal with, but wanted to do a PSA foe the ladies that if you’re in that pit, you’re not alone. Get it treated before it turns into postpartum psychosis, which happened in this artwork, as all life is precious. Resources abound. SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. 1-800-662-(HELP) 4357.

Take Me in Your Arms, It’s alright.

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The battlefield, you hate it, yet it’s your job to go. Souls need the guidance to the afterlife. They cry for their mothers, their God, even though if you’d ask them before coming, they were adamantly atheist, but as soon as you arrive, they plead for you to free them from their destroyed bodies. For you are death, the eternal equalizer, and you are there to show mercy for mans folly.

Breakfast at Pharaohs Revenge

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Yesterday I created a piece called “Breakfast at Pharaohs,” you may not remember it. In a nutshell, the Queen took power from the Pharaoh via assassination and posed a-la Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. In today’s artwork, like a ghost-pepper omelette coming back to haunt later in the day, Pharaoh gets his revenge. Today’s teaching moment – don’t eat ghost-pepper omelettes and in a culture heavily based on making sure your actions in this world get you a good spot in the next (such as the ancient Egyptians), make sure that tomb is sealed tighter than a bank vault. Otherwise, you may be screaming for mummy.

Better on a bigger screen

Dawn’s Relief

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Pseudo- fan art for you this morning. This was based on the character Christine, played by Margaret Clunie in the campy period (think 1940’s noir style) Horror movie “Here Comes Hell.” She and her friends hold a seance and unwittingly unlock a gateway to hell. No spoilers except she’s looking for an impromptu weapon in the fireplace, weighs the poker for the coming combat, but then see’s Excalibur hidden in the flue. EXCALIBUR! Anyway, about the digital painting. It’s set up as a typical portrait of the 1940’s with starlet holding a cigarette in one of those thingy’s. She’s looking at the rising sun after spending all night combatting evil. Again, no spoilers – I didn’t want to base it fully on the movie, because it’s always the inginue that is the focus of the film – she plays the jaded, jealous sister. So, surviving a night of horror, with some artistic license in dress, hair, sword, room, basically everything but the idea of a 1940’s debutante leaning on a sword. Flowers tomorrow! … or the next time I do art 🙂

Regret

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This is a painting about wasting time with the wrong person over 18 years and realizing at the end of it all that there’s no chance to find that one true love – she’s a ghost, gone in the corridors of time – the chance has passed, everyone’s jaded, you’ve more memories buried than prospects blooming, there will be no one to electrify every fiber of your being, and that the books and tales of chivalric love were a total lie. Of course you’ll go on, because you still have hope, and you can’t get the morbid irony in death that you can in life, but f**k.

Flashback 1984

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This is both fan art and a statement. It started as a momento of what I have always thought the perfect woman was, the Goth Girl, which goes back to high school. Hint, it was the Nerds who were totally interested in you, not that it mattered. There’s a girl, Desiree was her name, that I was infatuated with in high school, but was too afraid to talk to her. She disappeared after graduation. I have no idea weather she still walks the planet. so this is kind of a tribute to her.

It’s also a tribute to one of my favorite movies. Can you guess? Artax? Atreyu? The bog? Yup, it’s the Neverending Story, or Die Unendliche Geschichte, which is the book that is the origin of the movie. There may be some copyright stuff here but fanart should be covered by fair use.