the Jack of the Lantern. He stalks through the night on his broom of flame. Laughing all the way to unholy Hell. He takes what he pleases, he takes many souls. And he vanishes into the darkest of the shadows.
(HB pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard) It's not surprising that the pandemic would inspire me to do a work such as this. How could it not? It shows both the growing need for social interaction people have in isolation, along with the need to protect themselves. These two things have come together in a piece depicting a strange group of gate-crashing party-goers.
3/17/2020 San Francisco. The art studio is closed because of social distancing for the Coronavirus. My teacher sent out a note with a sketch she did and suggested we do a drawing a day during this isolation, to stay calm and creative and maintain our community. A neighbor put out a bucket with free bouquets, and it inspired me to pause while I was getting dinner started and do this instead. Definitely rusty after not being in the studio for two weeks!
Inspired by the Neo-Classical period, I pushed myself as an artist to portray subjects in an idealistic fashion combining drama and artificial lighting. The subject is my sister who modelled as a reference, enabling me to control the shadowy effect over her face. The dim lighting and dark background resonated with the period style, focusing on the facial parts that are visible. The end result looks like she is emerging from the darkness. A somber atmosphere is illustrated through visual expression.
Adding the fast drying oil on the brushes improved the blending of the colours on the canvas which was especially useful when it came to applying strokes on the face smoothly. Visit https://www.martiaposts.com for more
“Beware the wild rushes”, my mother told me. “They grow on the bank side along the salt sea!”. But I, being young, I heeded her none. (Inktober inspired by the Decemberists!!)
