Sometime a while back I was looking for someone in the UK to take photographs of the wonderful moorlands in that part of the world that I could use as reference for some paintings. Unfortunately, I wasn't able coordinate that project, but I started thinking: What was it I really wanted to capture in painting the moors? My answer to myself was that I wanted somehow to capture the atmosphere of the old Hammer horror films that have been an important part of my life since I was a little kid.
What better way than to go right to the source? So, I've been scouring those movies for landscape shots that I think would make for interesting paintings. This is the first in that series. It's from Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) and should get me going into the spooky season!
This painting is 16x9 inches on a canvas-laminated panel. Unlike most of my other personal paintings and master studies, I did not use Maroger medium on this one (I ran out and couldn't get more in time), instead I used the modern equivalent, Neo-Megilp, as suggested to me recently by @SunnyLady.
I hope you can copy this link to your browser and see this. It is not UK, it is Siberia but this is land of marsh lands there. Maybe some more inspiration will come to build on your self-reflection.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B0+%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B8&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS860US860&sxsrf=ALiCzsbK5A-jf3DNCLKYvpHLehmDf-vMww:1663332396989&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvyamFrJn6AhUDH-wKHTkbDNkQ_AUoAXoECAMQAw&biw=1830&bih=1097&dpr=1
OFF WITH HIS HEAD!...I love the old hammer horrors
Thank you both; I appreciate your kind words!
@tel - yes, me too, I grew up watching these and I can't imagine what my life would be like if I couldn't occasionally swim in the thick, sincere, spooky atmosphere of the Hammer films.
@SunnyLady - Oh, those images are just wonderful, thank you so much! I had no idea there were landscapes like that in Siberia, except maybe what was hinted at in the books by the great Russian authors. Do you ever go to those areas? I hope someday to go there.
@dracula - I see them from the plane sometimes or from the train. There is beauty in it and understanding it is dangerous to get there. Sometimes they look like a nice meadow and bright green, but a clue to understand it is not that all the dead trees around. It is very interesting. Most of this marshes are in western Siberia. And some towns still have only option to get there by plane/helicopter or by winter road as they surrounded by those marches.
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Dracula, I totally love the shimmer of colors in the sky and on the ground that you achieved building layers! It looks fantastic! I admire your thought process behind building this painting and self-reflection about attraction to the topic of marshes.
To me your style with paint work reminds impressionism. I would not be able to pinpoint to exact artist, but there is some of it in your work.