I had intended to post this piece last week on Sunday, the anniversary of the release date of the original Halloween, but I ran out of time. It makes more sense to post it today instead. I spent many childhood and teenage years terrified of Michael Myers. He would appear spontaneously out of the darkness in my nightmares. It wasn't until my mid twenties that he ceased to be a recurring presence in my dreamscape.
I watched the original Halloween again this week and still find so many moments unsettling and creepy. John Carpenter's Halloween was released on October 25, 1978. Despite the movie's age, there is a sorrowful timelessness about it, a mythic landscape of fear. Of course, that relentless theme music haunts forever. Thank You John Carpenter!
Happy All Hallow's Eve!
In the spring
of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a
fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween. The
anthology was set for a juvenile reading level. I toned down my usual
gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the
lighter side. You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness
began creeping through regardless. Although my submissions
were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing
between now and All Hallow's Eve. I hope you enjoy them.
This final piece is where my usual darkness finally breaks through. This image almost ended up gritty and blood splattered, but I pulled back. This could easily be a piece from one of my Halloween Outbreaks. It may yet be.
I kept thinking about this piece until I finally decided to do a blood splattered version. Here is your dark treat a day early! Happy Halloween!
I only just realized that so many of the pieces in this set feature doorways. hmph. What is so fear filling about doorways? What comes through them? What might come through them? What dread gatekeepers guard them? What have they been enclosing, holding back and is it now loose? Oh Doorways, you open and you close.
By the way, The big day is tomorrow. It's almost time. Don't forget to wear your masks.
{8x5.33, created in Adobe Photoshop}
Despite blockades,
Despite interruption,
the painstaking is continuous.
Recommended Listening:
I had intended to post this piece last week on Sunday, the anniversary of the release date of the original Halloween, but I ran out of time. It makes more sense to post it today instead. I spent many childhood and teenage years terrified of Michael Myers. He would appear spontaneously out of the darkness in my nightmares. It wasn't until my mid twenties that he ceased to be a recurring presence in my dreamscape.
