This was created specifically for the Poet's show, and was inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe. His entire catalog of work informs this piece, as opposed to a single poem or story.
Process: Shown is the digital portion of this image, which was created in Photoshop and Painter. It is a combination of photomanipulation and digital painting.
Credits for stock include the lovely Lockstock http://lockstock.deviantart.com
Resurgere http://resurgere.deviantart.com/
as well as http://www.sxc.hu/
The digital image is transferred to a maple substrate with solvent, then additional painting and varnishing takes place.
There were many images that I created prior to this one once I read the show's prospectus, but none I was truly satisfied with.
Longing and lost love, distorted reality and the weight of sadness are all themes that speak to me in Poe's work. It is my intent to convey these moods visually within an atmosphere reminiscent of the period in which Poe lived, and of his stories and poetry, some of which can indeed be considered both frightening and bleak.
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were--I have not seen
As others saw--I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I lov'd, I lov'd alone.
Then--in my childhood--in the dawn
Of a most stormy life--was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, of the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold--
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by--
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
