The Moonstone, and Dreams

"The Moonstone (I)" (2011) by Sarada

As usual my pledge to post more often falls by the wayside. I was posting recently about some sewing creations, and before that some of my lace knitting, and all of that is still sitting around waiting to be photographed or blogged about but in the meantime I was sitting outside last week reading "The Rose and the Key" by J. Sheridan le Fanu and I became possessed of the desire to paint some imagery from the novels that I love.

I read mostly 1790s-1920s, i.e. gothic novels, Victorian ghost stories, sci-fi and supernatural fiction, and just literature in general from that time period. Wilkie Collins is one of my favorites, and this summer I read "The Woman in White", as I read "The Moonstone" last year.

The above painting is the first Moonstone-inspired piece -- not any particular scene in the book really, just an impression in general I have of the idea of someone feeling like she is pursued for her mysterious amulet...

"The Spectrum of Dreams" (2011) by Sarada

I didn't think long and hard about a title for this one and I'm afraid it sounds a bit like a '90s Rush album as far as the title goes, but I wanted to express the idea of colors, and of a dreamlike atmosphere, so....now that I think about it, it reminds me more of the title of a 1960s or early speculative fiction book that I'd buy for the cover. At any rate, any excuse to unite dark horror and a bit of psychedelicness is fine by me!

Gathering at the Death Bed - gothic art

Last week I said I would post a followup to this painting (The Clock Watcher) which was inspired by a scene in an antique shop in a bad werewolf movie I was enjoying. As I mentioned then, I found some of the visuals in that film (which was actually from 1979, as it turns out, and called Wolfman) very interesting and they stuck with me. The opening scene in particular I thought was just visually a lot of fun and I wanted to put it on canvas in some form.

The details of the plot escape me, but all that matters for the purpose of the painting were that it had a background of dark green wallpaper, and an oval mirror. A dark-haired couple stood in the flickering candlelight, which reflected green on their dark hair. That image seemed like a classic old-fashioned, gothic horror movie image to me. A Victorian house, with candelabras and antique furniture, large mirrors and portraits; ornate wallpaper or wood-paneled corridors. Perhaps there were some taxidermy specimens there as well. And everyone always looking ominously at everything.

I would love to live in a house like that. I live in a town right now with a strange mixture of houses -- many of them are in fact large and roughly Victorian era. There's one I gaze at longingly every day, with the windows boarded over, and the paint peeling. It looks like a great place to live but I know that realistically it probably needs new plumbing or something dreary like that. But if it was haunted, it would totally be worth all the hassle!

The Clock Watcher

Sometimes I'll start a painting and not finish it for a year or two. Or 20. I found some canvases at my mother's house that I had started in high school and never finished. (I graduded in 1991). And then I finished them, all these years later. Then there are paintings like the one shown above, which I started this evening while I was watching a movie. The movie was Wolfman, from 1982. It starts off with one of the most striking visuals I've seen in anything outside a Dario Argento film, and is peppered with other wonderful visual moments.

For the record, I watch movies almost exclusively for visuals -- the more garish and lurid and striking, the better. My favorite films are always interesting to look at. So even if it's not a great piece of cinema I get a lot of out of them. Anyway, this movie had at least three scenes in it that inspired sketches and this is the first painting. It has NOTHING to do with anything in the movie. There's just a moment in the film where a dark haired woman is standing in an antique store by a wall of clocks. I put a similar woman in a dark green, malachite hued dress, and gave her a knife, for this painting. I wanted her to be a little unsettling, but is she the threatener, or the threatened? At any rate I think she will be able to handle whatever lurks outside of the frame. Just imagine the cacophony of all of that ticking.

Lucy of the Crows

First, thank you to everyone who has added me to their blog list or is looking via other means that I can't spy on.  I have plans to actually be on the ball this year and start seriously putting some Halloween stuff out into the world between August and October!  Halloween: it's not just for February through June anymore!  So far I've already bought a few yards of Halloween fabric, and several decorations from craft stores.  Michael's craft store has a "bling" theme this year which translates into lots of glitter, for practical purposes.  Let's call it glam, perhaps.

The painting above will be among those in what I guess is my Halloween showcase this year though really she is more inspired by the Saint Lucy/Saint Lucia than Halloween, specifically, but there is a ghostly aspect to her, with her black lace veil and her grey Victorian gown.  The crows or blackbirds that she holds, clutch a pair of eyeballs.  Her own eyes are obscured by the veil.  

She could be a twist on the image of the Christian martyr who is often depicted in gothic art and in medieval iconography as bearing her eyes on a plate.  Or, she is simply a ghostly apparition with unsettling pets.  

Either way, she is now on Etsy, as I start to direct some dark art in that direction for the season.  In other news: still reading The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parsons, and it's been very readable -- I sometimes have trouble focusing on the lesser known gothic novels of the 18th century (which is probably why they haven't survived as major classics) but this is exactly what I'm in the mood for.  Also, I ordered a book of EF Benson ghost stories today.  And the BPAL Halloween update was today so that is also on my mind.  Ahh yes, the season is starting.