I have a fondness for B-Movies. Trashy science fiction. Dark comedies. Radioactive lizards in rubber suits. Cult films that take an undead reverence…

For October, 2358MRKT Gallery is hosting The Dreadful, Ghastly, Monstrous, & Abominable Art Show:

The 2358MRKT’s owner, Kalie Capadona, had stopped by the opening reception for Gallery-O-Rama’s Tarot show, which includes So, Make Your Own Light in the Dark and remarked it made her think of vintage posters.

I was giddy.

As with my work last month, I decided on making two paintings simultaneously. But, I went about them differently.

The Starlit Plague; or, Art Planning

If it isn’t obvious, I think titles are important. I keep a running list of titles for different projects. The longest of which is for CruelKind, a decade-plus world-building exercise. Including The Starlit Plague.

The briefest version of The Starlit Plague is it’s a horror story where there’s an outbreak of umbraplague—a disease that causes the person’s skin to be replaced with a swirling galaxy-esque void. Initially, this is seen as a neat, trendy thing to do, so people actively try to get infected. But, as the disease progresses the person is transformed into a shade—a mindless, violent blackhole of a monster.

Intriguing imagery and definitely punchy. So, I started this one with some basic thumbnail sketches. While the final image doesn’t really match any of them, I find doing thumbnails can help direct how I pose and shoot.

Once I had my starting image, it was a matter of transferring it to printmaking paper and painting…

I knew going into this that I wanted to use luminescent pigments again. I had success mixing them into watercolor medium and reasonably effective even when it looked completely transparent. The final version of The Starlit Plague:

The Skeleton Elixir; or, Spontaneity

The Skeleton Elixir has a very different beginning. Rather than go into it with a composition, I approached it as a character performance. The styling is pretty heavily influenced by Charles “Chas” Addams’s Morticia character, albeit with an introduction of color. (Chas did illustrate in color, but Morticia is largely achromatic.)

And I just started shooting:

I then went through the images, intuiting what I liked. And one did stand out. Pity my eyes were closed.

Thankfully, I didn’t really need the eyes to be perfect for this. I made a mockup with some Adobe generated eyes & a simplified background (dark greys end up kind of greenish in toner, so I knew I was going to have to redo it anyway).

But, before I progressed, I needed a title. After all, what sort of fictional film wouldn’t include a title‽ (I admit I was tempted to add in “Andi Benet in…” or some other language, but worried it would make the scene busy.)

Since The Starlit Plague had come from my CruelKind titles, I figured I’d start there to name this companion piece.

And, there it was:

The Skeleton Elixir

What is the skeleton elixir? I have no idea; but, it resonated with the image I’d selected.

As with shooting, the painting for The Skeleton Elixir was fairly organic. It’s not until very late into the process that the idea of having the subject’s bones glow occurred to me. (A related title, The Golden Bones, refers to glowing bones, so it was something in the back of my mind.)

This was actually the first time I’ve ever opened up my artist’s anatomy book. And I was painting blind.

Since I mixed the luminescent pigment to a nearly transparent state, I couldn’t really see what the image looked like. I would squint at the paper sideways, using the water’s sheen to tell me what areas had been painted. Once I thought I was in a good state, I’d stick the paper in the sun to (1) dry, and (2) charge.

Once charged, I would take the painting into the dark and make mental notes of where to paint next. And repeat.

As the inks from earlier areas were water-soluable, they’d instantaneously reactivate with the slightest touch of water, bleeding into the sections I was working on. If I’d had the idea to paint the skeleton before this, I theoretically could have done the painting in the dark.

… I think the pair make for an interesting complement to each other with The Starlit Plague stronger in the light and The Skeleton Elixir in the dark.

Both will be up 6–15 October 2023 at 2358MRKT gallery, framed, and available for $150. There’s an opening reception Friday 6 October from 5-10pm (part of the wider monthly Castro Artwalk).