gothic

Attila’s End

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In the early spring of 453 AD, Attila, ruler of the #Huns was celebrating his latest marriage to the #gothic princess #Ildiko when he had a nosebleed and choked to death on his own blood. He may have had an esophageal rupture, an aneurism, or a genetic condition where a blood vessel weakens over time and eventually ruptures (I learned that from watching Dr. G: Medical Examiner – thanks!). Dr. Garavaglia often says she sees preventable deaths in the morgue due to drinking, and this death happened while drinking.. ergo… Who knows, had he survived, Europe would look a lot different today. Anywho, it was an ignoble end for a man who nearly conquered Rome, but fitting in an ironic sense for someone who thrived on bloodshed. This #artwork shows the moment #Attila’s body bids him adieu and checks out of hotel Mortal Coil. I went for a pseudo-classic #digital #painting totally inspired by drawings of the deathbed scene found while googling him for something totally unrelated. I was intrigued and wanted to put it in a more photo-realistic context. #art #digitalartist #new #history is fun!

The Future

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Concept #art I created yesterday. Beware of #demons offering a look into the #future and all that rot. The new thing for me was getting a #rainbow to appear exactly where I wanted it. I did it by creating a primitive of clear glass, then placing a multicolor fx injector inside of it. Art is about making use of the tools you have 🙂 #barren #apocalyptic #fallenangel #whatsyourangle #digitalart #digitalartist #new

It’s Been a Minute

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A woman with dark hair tied up in a bun is crouched on the ground, holding a long sword over her shoulder. With intense makeup and bold red lipstick, she wears a serious expression. It’s been a minute since she trained here, in an outdoor concrete area with walls, clad in her sleeveless outfit.

I just looked at my site and saw my last article was published in April of 2018, almost a year ago. For those that held on, thank you!

Where did I go? The short answer is ‘nowhere’; which is both true and ironic. I’ve been working a lot. Since being mortal is part of the human condition, I had to eat, pay rent, etc., and as we all know, art doesn’t a living make, unless you know people, have rich parents, or are talented enough to rise above the noise of the global art market – a billion artists souls vying for your eyeball time.

I haven’t been painting on canvas, per se. Like her musical sister in 2013, that Muse packed her bags and left me for brighter pigments. I’ve had a canvas on by easel since April, but all I’ve managed to do is hit it now and then with a duster and compressed air.

I have been exploring the other arts, like digital illustration, writing, and painting miniatures (which I did as a teenager). I’ve also been taking the aforesaid miniatures and composing photographic scenes, which is fun in itself.

Here’s some of the work I’ve been doing. I usually post to Instagram first, but since I’m paying for this site, I might as well use it, eh?

So, have I been productive? That depends on what one considers art. I’ll leave that for you to decide. Some day, canvas muse may come back, or rekindle as the musical muse did briefly, but I’ll always be doing something creative.

The Calm Before the Heresy

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“The Calm Before the Heresy.” 18×24 #acrylic #painting on #canvas. $300 if interested, which is, mmm, $0.70 per square inch, plus $20 shipping CONUS. That’s a great deal. Prices are sure to shoot up the moment I’m discovered 🙂


I had the idea a couple weeks back, but it really wanted out of my head today. It’s part of my ramp up to #Halloween, the season of #magic – where the boundaries between our world and the #supernatural are at their weakest. 
The setting is #Colonial #America, or Europe, suit yourself (as Marty Feldman used to say). A man, walking through the woods, comes upon a scene of #occult #witchcraft, or worship as the old religions call it. You get the rest, burnings, hangings, people succumbing to their basest instincts.

The Watcher

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My favorite time of the year is here, Fall/Halloween. I’ve geared up the darker art to celebrate. This one I call “the Watcher”. I love gargoyles, so I painted one. The bushes are a combination of fantasy and berries I encounter on my daily walks. 

Techniques used include spray paint, acrylic paint, brushwork, finger-painting,  and the use of these styrofoam balls one can find in a craft store.

I wanted to do rain, but you can’t have a full moon in view with rain falling, apparently. I wanted to keep that accuracy.

Nature Rocks

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I may add some highlights to the Roses, but I’m bored, and as Rey found out when turning over her scavenged goods on Jakku, what was worth four rations yesterday, is only worth 1/2 today.

About the painting:

The idea stems from an audial affair I had with an old friend, Concrete Blonde. Concrete Blonde, for those wondering, is an 80’s band fronted by still smoking hot bassist Johnette Napolitano. Her gothic voice, driving rythym, and intense lyrics sucked me right back in as I was navigating my music collection.  

I was listening to the song ‘Caroline’ a lot, especially on my many recent road trips. One day, curious, I pulled up the video…

…And I sort of became inspired. So, the rocker in the painting is Johnette, although I’m horrible at 1:1 realism, and she’s wearing the dress from the video. I took artistic license with the guitar, sue me.  Here’s a still:


The roses? The song ‘Caroline’ is from the album ‘Bloodlettng’, which is chock full of roses. It’s been remastered for its 20th anniversary, by the way:


So that is the story. I guess you could call it fan art? Really, it’s stream of consciousness painting to good music. 

As for the title? Nature does rock. It fits and I’m a fan.

Parity Lost

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A surreal painting titled "Parity Lost" features a blue-skinned figure with dark wings kneeling and gazing into a large vessel. A woman with curly hair peers out from the vessel, swathed in pink fabric and surrounded by trailing vines. Abstract pink clouds form the ethereal background.

“Everyone knew the war would one day end. It had raged for eons since Lucifer decided he would rather own his house than pay rent. The sides of light and darkness had fought themselves to a standstill. “If only God’s pets could see the ethereal ruin that lay in between their Starbucks and obsession with the Kardashians,” most angels mused to themselves as the conflict went on.   

What no one expected, was for the war to end today. No one foresaw that the strongest of the Angels would exercise her free will, just as Lucifer had at the beginning of time. She had grown weary of the routine, the constant pressure of vigilance, of maintaining the balance, and had decided to do something about it. She would become what God loved most – human.
As her wings relented under the blade, tremors shook the ethereal, summoning Lucifer to her side. He loved her, this angel, his greatest threat. He had held her in greater esteem than those braggarts Michael and Gabriel. She, who had fought him to an aeons-long standstill, had earned his respect, and worse, corrupted the purity of his hate with love, however selfish.

She had chosen to become mortal, a contemptible, imperfect, creature that had what all angels desired. Now, the balance had shifted. He had loathed the favorites of God, he had achieved self-actualization through his torment of them – and now she was one of them! Could he go on destroying them? His heart sank at the only conclusion he could reach. The war was over.”

Night Light

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A glowing paper lantern illuminates a dark, vibrant night scene with bright light. Surrounded by tree branches and leaves with hints of red and orange, the night light creates a striking, cozy contrast against the deep, colorful background.

Night Light is the first attempt to create the scene I was envisioning as a painting.  I realized too late, that I had made the street lamp too big relative to what I wanted to happen around it.  I would have needed a canvas three times the size to keep the perspective of what is in my head.  I therefore made the reluctant decision to leave it as is and start another canvas using the street light theme.

In the meantime, I hope you like the results of this one, as it has a few quirks to it.  Also, I hope you stick around for what will be the ultimate realization of the vision I have for the scene.


The scene here is reminiscent of what I see when I go for my evening walks.  I’m infatuated with light, and any unusual display of it will stop me in my tracks.  It’s kind of like “Shiny Object Syndrome”, only literally.  There’s a tree and street light combination on the corner of my block that inspired this painting.

This is 18″x24″, acrylic paint on canvas, April 27, 2017.

Ghost in the Well

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A surreal painting shows a lone figure meditating beneath an abstract, twisted tree. The landscape features red, swirling shapes resembling eyes, leading to a staircase that ascends to a cliff where the whispered legend of the Ghost in the Well beckons. The sky is a deep blue, creating a mystical atmosphere.

This piece was initially the result of a dream. I went through many versions in my head before I settled on something I could actually execute on canvas.  The overall tone comes from my subconscious, of course – that sense of helplessness in a world bigger than you.  The subject is a girl trapped in a well, the moonlight streaming down to comfort her in her prison.  She’s not seen another soul for decades, yet still wonders if someone will come to her rescue.  Humanity, it seems, has passed the girl by, yet Nature, in a moment of tenderness has forged a place for her in the natural order.

20 x 24, abstract mixed media (spray paint and acrylics) on canvas, February 2017.

Available on Etsy: Being Koi

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Earth Mother

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Surreal painting of a glowing blue face with a serene expression emerging from a dark background. Spiraling, bright green vines rise from the orange-red base, entwining towards the face. The artwork conveys an ethereal and mystical ambiance, evoking the presence of an Earth Mother.

I went ahead and signed this one because I don’t know when, if ever, I’ll get back to it.  It’s a nature piece, dealing with the mystical forces surrounding the entity that is Mother Nature, both from a pagan and artistic perspective.  She’s never really portrayed as a creature one wants to be around; rather, people would rather just appreciate her children.  This is why she is depicted as serious, even of stern visage, in my portrayal of her.

Once again, the vision in my minds-eye did not match what came from my hand, so I will have to keep trying.  The exercise in the piece was lighting from multiple sources, the plant, emanating the energy of its birth, the right, and from above, representing the night.  One can see faint traces of it in the downward strokes of the background.

Vitals: 18 x 24 acrylic on canvas.

Comments are welcome, more so if they go beyond “this is total rubbish”.

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Test of Faith

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A cold winter evening, somewhere in the city.  On the roof of a nondescript tenement, a life is about to end… or is it about to begin?

Every artist does a religious painting at some point (at least the ones I follow), so here is my contribution to that lexicon of beauty.

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Harvest Knights

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A surreal painting depicts a vibrant, oversized orange moon against a pink and purple sky. In the foreground, a lush landscape with tall, dark trees and dense foliage evokes the Rites of Spring. A small arched bridge crosses a tranquil stream, with mysterious ruins to the right.

“Harvest Knights” Acrylic and Spray Paint on Canvas, 18 x 24. Deep in the night, under the blood moon a pair of knights rush along a deserted road, past ruins of long forgotten folk towards an urgent engagement. At least that’s the idea. The skills never match the concept.

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