This isn't the first time that the burning dead have been a focus for me. They've shown up just before the summer solstice for the past couple of years. I'm not sure what they're all about, but I'll keep coming back to them until I figure it out or rather, they will keep finding me until...
For
2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the
work I had been producing. I chose to adopt a looser style. Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of
dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back
towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.
{13.33 x 4.68, created in Adobe Photoshop}
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:
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 one is mostly a mood piece. However, there is something inherently creepy about a single child standing alone, not seeking out the care of an adult. The skeleton costume helps with the creepy, of course.
{8x5.33, created in Adobe Photoshop}
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.
I haven't done a lot of work focused on fear in a city setting. For this piece I chose a subway late at night. I also wanted to highlight that moment of horror where the protagonist narrowly escapes whomever or whatever is chasing them with only a thin barrier of protection keeping their pursuer at bay.
{8x5.33, created in Adobe Photoshop}
Some lessons can only be learned
in darkness.
Recommended Listening:
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.
For this piece I wanted to create an uncomplicated image. I wanted the image to be mostly darkness to focus on the ghostly glow. I did not want any details to be lost in the darkness so I adopted a clean and simple style.
{8x5.33, created in Adobe Photoshop}
With this header, I wanted to evoke a creepy foreboding without any direct confrontational horror. The monstrous thing is far away, but it's big and could be close in heartbeat, especially if it should NOTICE you. eep. ...and worse, there is more than one.
For
2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the
work I had been producing. I chose to adopt a looser style. Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of
dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back
towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.
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.
Here we have three antebellum ghost sisters. Are they merely ghosts or something more substantial and horrific?
{11.11x7.4, created in Adobe Photoshop}
His thunderous arrival
is a grounding energetic.
Recommended Listening:
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.
With each piece in this set I tried to tell some kind of story even it was only a simple one. This piece shows one of the greatest fears I had as a kid: the nearby but unseen monster.
{8x5.33, created in Adobe Photoshop}
